Taking broader view of Video Music Awards

COULD Geoff Boucher have been any more disdainful of the Video Music Awards [“It’s About Knight and Green Day,” Aug. 30]?

The most interesting point about the VMAs this year was the resurgence of rock. Green Day winning the most awards was a big part of that, yet Boucher relegated them to one short paragraph that was followed by a dismissive sentence, “But who remembers who wins?”

Their performance and the performances of My Chemical Romance and the Killers were the highlights of the show.

AMY SEDIVY

Los Angeles

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WE should send a tape of this year’s MTV Video Music Awards to Africa and say, “Sorry, we could have maybe gotten you some food or shelter or proper clothing -- we could have saved your life -- but Diddy had a party instead.”

When did award shows become such flashy, excessive ordeals that cost millions and millions of dollars to produce, only to end up being mindless pieces of programming? The sole purpose of the 2005 Video Music Awards seemed not to entertain the youth of America but to allow rappers a forum in which to demonstrate their arrogance.

What happened to musicians standing on a stage under some simple light fixtures, playing music, and the music was enough to astound people? What happened to genuine musicianship and performers with real talent who don’t have to hide under multimillion-dollar pyrotechnics in order to entertain people?

Better yet, what has happened to the world that we allow an awards show so ignorant and stripped of authenticity to pass for entertainment?

CHRISTINA NICELLI

Malibu