MTV Movie & TV Awards continues to toe the line between mainstream 'safe' and youth sensibilities

MTV is no longer the tastemaker it used to be, but every year it continues to diligently hand out awards to honor people working in the realm of movies and television. The MTV Movie & TV Awards are kind of like the Oscars and Emmys combined, but only taken far less seriously. There is some validity to that, because how can you be reverent of an award show that gives out what is effectively a lifetime achievement award to Chris Pratt, who first starred in a movie in 2014? However, the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards, still has its merits.

This is an event strikingly different than the aforementioned Oscars and Emmys, or even the Golden Globes. Prestige films and critical darlings largely need not apply. Populist fare and massive blockbusters rule the day over at MTV. It's the award show dedicated to the things 16-year-olds like to watch. They are also things that adults enjoy, of course — we just don't normally think to give them rewards. We complain about "The Dark Knight" not getting a Best Picture nomination, and then keep rewarding the same kind of movies at 'prestige' events like we always have.

On the other hand, the winner for Best Movie at the MTV Awards was "Black Panther," and it beat out the likes of "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Wonder Woman" for the award. "Black Panther" made a ton of money and got a lot of critical love, but its Oscar hopes are abysmal. It was the big winner of the night, as the movie took home four awards total — the most of any film. That included a Best Performance in a Movie award for Chadwick Boseman. Last year, the MTV Movie & TV Awards stopped giving out separate actor and actress awards, instead letting everybody compete in one single category in the name of inclusivity (even if it robs several actors every year of the chance to take home a trophy).

In the world of television, "Stranger Things" stole the night. It won Best Show over nominees including "Game of Thrones." Millie Bobby Brown won the TV acting award, and her Eleven and Finn Wolfhard's Mike shared an award for Best Musical Moment. Hey, it is MTV, after all. They need to hand out at least one music-related award. (They actually gave out two, as Best Music Documentary is also a category. This year's award went to Lady Gaga and her "Little Monsters" fan base for her doc "Five Foot Two" about vaulting into the limelight.) 

The event also has some atypical awards that separate it from its counterparts. Tiffany Haddish, who also hosted, emerged victorious for Best Comedic Performance for her work in the summer smash film of 2017 "Girls Trip." Alas, she couldn't pull off the double, as Madelaine Petsch from "Riverdale" took home Scene Stealer. One of the quintessential MTV Movie & TV Award categories is Best Kiss, which this year went to Nick Robinson and Keiyan Lonsdale from "Love, Simon." If there is a knock on the so-called prestigious award shows, it's that they tend toward the conservative and familiar. As such, seeing an award handed out to a gay, interracial couple, even for a category as silly and cheesy as Best Kiss, feels like a moment worth celebrating. It's certainly more interesting than when Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson won for the fourth year in a row.

Sure, there was some overlap between MTV's nominees and the people who get recognition from the Emmys and Oscars. Emmy voters like "Stranger Things" and "Game of Thrones," too. Timothee Chalamet and Saoirse Ronan were both nominated for Best Performance in a Movie. That being said, the MTV Movie & TV Awards do give a different kind of pop culture fan an award show to pay attention to, but let's not shower the event with praise as some sort of wonderful gift to the world. This is still the award show that gave out Best Shirtless Performance trophies for three years recently. Chris Pratt is awesome, but giving him something called the MTV Generation Award feels empirically silly. Every award show has its drawbacks, and none of them should ever be treated as gospel. 

Still, seeing somebody like Haddish getting the chance to host a show that honors the movies that rule the box office, and that also feel genuinely excellent performances, means there is merit to having yet another award show on the slate.