It was held in an old expensive theatre, a shortish walk from the con venue. Red and gold everywhere, a rotating cake shaped like planets, a fully open bar and GoT-themed cocktails, a live band and a stage - very much NOT what I'd been expecting, based on past experience.
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But things change. Contexts change. Meanings change. You cannot simultaneously be One Of The Regular Guys just hosting a drinks for your friends while simultaneously being one of the richest, most well-known figures in the field. There's an obvious conflict there -
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- and that conflict becomes extremely stark and extremely troubling in the context of the Hugos themselves, where the defining celebration of the awards is held somehow *apart* from those awards, under the auspices of a single individual.
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Which is why, I believe, what happened with GRRM and the 2020 Hugos livestream happened the way it did. GRRM is *used* to feeling entitled to the stage at the Hugos. There was no losers party, so he used the awards ceremony to tell the stories he usually tells at his own event -
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- but at far greater length, with far greater indulgence, and at the expense of that year's nominees. That he was evidently blindsided and thus upset by the criticism he received for it likewise tracks: why would he expect it, when he's never criticised at the afterparty?
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It should be no surprise that, after years of autonomously hosting the Hugo losers party, GRRM conflated his entitlement to a stage he paid for with entitlement to the awards themselves. He saw no reason to adjust his schitck, and in doing so insulted and alienated the nominees.
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GRRM was hurt by the criticism because, I believe, on some level, he's come to think of the Hugos as *his*, like he's their patron or godfather. He might not decide who gets on the ballot, but he controls the big party that everyone wants to go to, and shouldn't that count?
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Which is why, for all I've enjoyed his parties in the past, I say that he now must choose between making the event his legacy and continuing to treat it as a private playground, wherein he reigns as a kindly benefactor, entitled to adoration and time because of status and money.
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He could, for instance, turn over the management of the party to the con itself, perhaps by putting some money in trust so that each con, each year can afford to show the nominees and winners a good time. He could be a lifetime guest, honored as a founder - but not as a host.
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Alternately, he could take his ball and go home, leaving worldcon to fill the void with an event and budget of their own design; because frankly, an awards ceremony SHOULD have a party! But there would be no legacy in this for him; just an angry end.
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Or he could just... keep doing what he's doing, and worldcon can keep letting him: having the singular event associated with the awards run by someone who isn't part of the con every single year, so that the concom can only shrug apologetically whenever there's a cockup.
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I appreciate the love GRRM has for the Hugos as an institution, but the institution is not the same as the people who comprise it, who appear on the ballots each year, and when his parties and nostalgic speechifying alienate those people... who or what is he serving, really?
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If GRRM and worldcon want the Hugos to both retain the legacy they already have while continuing to have a future, then the issue of how the ceremony is handled, who runs the parties and who is included in both will need to be dealt with sooner rather than later.
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minor correction - I somehow typed that GoT was in its first season in 2014 instead of its third. d'oh!
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End of conversation
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