Did you miss some of the recent movies that came out? Did mom or dad forget to give you money to pay for your monthly streaming platform subscriptions? Or have you just not been keeping up with what’s hot in the media show and movies industry? Well lucky for you there is something called the Emmys.  

This past Monday, NBC and Peacock premiered the 74th annual Emmy Award Show. The Emmys is an award show that broadcasts the celebration of various screenings depicting a range of visual, technical and artistic talent with star-studded actors as well. In the performance art world, there are four big achievements and awards you can earn: an Oscar, a Tony, a Grammy and lastly, an Emmy. An actual Emmy award was named after ‘Immy,’ which is the informal term for the orthicon image tube used in early television where an atom is being helped by a winged woman.    

There are a few different Emmy Award ceremonies that are held annually, each with its own set of rules and award categories. The Primetime Emmy Awards and the Daytime Emmy awards tend to receive the most media coverage. These award ceremonies recognize outstanding work in American primetime and daytime entertainment programming. Other notable Emmy events will honor national programming for children, sports, news, documentaries, and technological and engineering achievements. There are also Regional Emmy Awards, which are presented throughout the country at various times of the year. Regional Emmys recognize excellence in local and statewide television. Similarly, there is the International Emmy Awards, which honors excellence in TV programming produced and aired outside the United States. 

Now, focusing our lens on this year’s Emmy award. The 74th Emmy Awards Governors Gala was held at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Monday, Sept. 12, 2022. The host was none other than the multi-talented Kenan Thompson. He did a great job performing himself, giving the nominees their flowers and having jabs and jokes– especially toward other competing networks that weren’t Peacock. HBO Max and Netflix were among the networks targeted. “Stranger Things was hard to watch because it’s so scary, Squid Game was hard to watch because it’s so violent, and Yellowjackets was hard to watch because it’s on Showtime” was one of Thompson’s jokes. He said that Squid Game was about people struggling to make money. “Joining the cast next season: Netflix,” he joked, referencing the streamer’s stock downturn. He later praised Abbott Elementary’s team for donating its Emmys Marketing budget to public school teachers and added, “It’s about helping those in need — that’s why all of my salary from tonight’s show is going straight to Netflix. That’s two, Netflix! They ain’t never going to give me a comedy special, but that’s OK.”  

Moving past Thompson’s comedic monologue I decided to write a review on the show and the overarching concepts. The three main themes I gathered and wanted to highlight were depicted throughout the show. The involvement of music, promoting female empowerment, and the repetitive broadcasting that media is important in today’s day and age. The use of music was displayed from the opening acting of the show. Thompson paid homage to classic shows themes songs singing and dancing to them. The DJ cued music when awards were being accepted with classics such as “Hit the Road Jack,” “We are the Champions” and much more. One of the most important music moments at the Emmys was Sherly Lee Ralph’s acapella song after receiving the award. “I am an endangered species,” she sang. Female empowerment was very present because not only were there seven actresses winners, four black actresses (Ralph, Lizzo, Zendaya and Quinta Brusnon), but Lizzo winning an Emmy for “Watch out for the big girls” made big girls like her know they stories are being heard. And finally, media helps represent whether it be Lizzo’s show, the Squid Game’s historical success as an Asian-dominated film, or other historic wins.  

In conclusion, this year’s Emmy award show lets us know why Peacock is doing better than HBO and Netflix, according to Kenan Thompson. Also, we saw the movies and shows that were successful to the point where they dominated the nominations for talented cast members. But most importantly, the arts are very important to us in learning about history. Consuming knowledge and connecting with the media is very helpful to make the star and voices of tomorrow be seen, listened to and heard. in a lot of ways, this represents something bigger than all of us, which can affect someone’s life for the better, or ultimately change the world.