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# Let's Check Out Some Early  Independent Spirit Awards Red Carpets
- URL: https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/lets-check-out-some-early-independent-spirit-awards-red-carpets-04-2021/
- Published: 2021-04-21T15:00:08.000Z
- Updated: 2023-03-01T23:21:17.000Z
- Description: It's all floppy hair and smoking.
- Author: Jessica  
- Tags: *Flashback*, fugs, classic movie premieres, Independent Spirit Awards, #wp, #wp-post, #hasslideshow, #Import 2026-10-07 08:15

[View the gallery](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/the-independent-spirit-awards-of-the-80s-and-90s/)

The Independent Spirit Awards -- which likes to posit itself as the anti-Oscars (although a major televised awards show with a red carpet and a press pack isn't as far away from the Oscars as folks might like to think) -- began in 1984 as a way to recognize (as the name suggests) independent films as opposed to big studio productions. [Wiki, in fact, tells me](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent%5FSpirit%5FAwards?ref=go-fug-yourself.ghost.io) that "\[i\]n 1985, Peter Coyote and Jamie Lee Curtis presented winners with a Plexiglas pyramid designed by Carol Bosselman, which contain a suspended shoestring, printed with sprocket holes, representing the shoestring budgets of independent films. " (This is no longer the trophy. It's now "a metal trophy depicting a bird with its wings spread sitting atop of a pole with the shoestrings from the previous design wrapped around the pole." This metaphor is getting a little tortured, y'all!) A couple of years ago[, *Variety* ran a really interesting piece about key moments the history of the show](https://variety.com/2005/film/awards/independence-days-1117918523/?ref=go-fug-yourself.ghost.io), including this gem:

> 1992: Honorary chair Jodie Foster delivers a speech about the less-than-honorable business practices among the studios. The title? “The Scum-Sucking Vampire Pig Theory of Hollywood."

Talk about stuff that that would never fly now. Go back in time and start a blog, Jodie!

That article also does a fairly good job of subtly showing how much this particular event has turned into just another awards show, which is ultimately now probably more about a vibe than anything else, given that studio-financed films have been eligible since 1995\. But speaking of vibes, the red carpet shots from the '80s and '90s are legitimately a hoot. So much floppy hair and smoking! You're going to enjoy it. If the red carpet from the early aughts is more your jam, [you can reveal in them here. (Spoiler: they're bad!!!)](https://go-fug-yourself.ghost.io/the-independent-spirit-awards-of-the-early-aughts-brought-truly-misguided-red-carpet-looks-04-2021/)

As far as this year's show goes, it sounds like it's going to be a very complicated virtual event this Thursday. [The Hollywood Reporter reports,](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/film-independent-reveals-details-about-virtual-spirit-awards-show?ref=go-fug-yourself.ghost.io) "The 2021 Film Independent Spirit Awards, hosted by *Saturday Night Live*'s Melissa Villaseñor, will take place on Thursday, April 22 and air live on IFC and AMC+ at 10 p.m. ET." 10 p.m.!?! THE AUDACITY!

###### \[Photos: Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images, Jim Smeal/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images, Barry King/WireImage, Crollalanza/Shutterstock, Dave Lewis/Shutterstock, Rck/Kmla/Shutterstock, Alex Berliner/BEI/Shutterstock, Bei/Shutterstock, Globe Photos/Mediapunch/Shutterstock\]