Diksha Sundriyal
In Netflix’s ‘Unfrosted,’ Jerry Seinfeld presents a different version of the cereal industry. While the world enjoys all kinds of flavors and the new forms of breakfast that cereal companies come up with from time to time, rarely does anyone stop and think about how they do it. In ‘Unfrosted,’ we get a peek into that, but it is far removed from what really happens and presents that world from a completely different lens. The story is focused on the rivalry between Post and Kellogg’s in the 1960s, and instead of making it a serious drama about winning the race against their competitor, Seinfeld uses the film to satirize the whole thing and give the audience a hearty time in the process. The Bowl and Spoon Awards are a part of that.
The Bowl and Spoon Awards Reiterate Seinfeld’s Views on Award Shows
Jerry Seinfeld believes that award shows are stupid. He said as much in his acceptance speech at The Comedian Awards in 2007. While he received the award, he said there shouldn’t be any awards for comedians because it countered the whole point of a comedian’s work, which he said is “about making fun of pretentious, high-minded, self-congratulatory B.S. events like” these. He went on to say that awards, in general, are stupid, giving examples of stupid real estate offices with “five-diamond president’s award thing,” hotels with bad service with “some gold circle service thing,” and a car salesman whose only job is to rip you off with a “platinum jubilee” award. He extended the reference to actors, wondering why people should be awarded to play pretend in front of the screen.
Seinfeld stated that it’s beyond him that people “feel the need to set aside a night to give out these jaggoff bowling trophies six times a year, so all these people can pat each other on the back about how much money they’re making; boring the piss out of half the world,” adding that he wouldn’t be saying all this if he hadn’t already won all those awards.
It wasn’t just this speech that made it clear how much Seinfeld detests the idea of awards. He has talked about it several times over the years, so it is not entirely surprising that he decided to take a jab at award shows in his directorial debut. While ‘Unfrosted’ borrows real people who were attached to Post and Kellogg’s and uses the actual premise of the rivalry between the companies, the majority of the story is a completely unreal version of events. Satire is an important part of the story, and the scene with the Bowl and Spoon Awards adds to that.
In the movie, Kellogg’s wins all the Bowl and Spoon Awards (which are like the Oscars of the cereal industry) not simply because it is good at all those things but because, as Bob Cabana confesses, it has bought the whole thing. It is all just for show and doesn’t really mean anything, which is Seinfeld’s point about the whole awards thing to begin with.
Read More: Unfrosted: Is Friendly Farms Dairy a Real Milk Company?
