Are the Oscars Relevant?
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The night that was once considered Hollywood’s most prestigious event is now being questioned on its relevancy and what it actually promotes on behalf of the film industry. What is meant to be a celebration filled with high profile, talented creators to honor artistic and technical achievement has turned into a commercially-driven popularity contest. Is the award show about promoting and giving high praise to art, or is it meant to rake in revenue?
After certain categories were omitted from the broadcast, the ratings for the Oscars tanked. In addition, viewership dwindled due to a lack of POC and female representation. The event suffered a decrease in viewership and engagement as the 2021 ceremony hit an all-time low, with only 9.23 million viewers—a 51% drop from the 18.69 million who tuned in to watch the previous year. Viewers and artists are disappointed with the Academy Awards for a multitude of reasons. Here is why they are questioning the true purpose of the Oscars.
The Academy Awards are supposed to showcase a variety of categories, from Best Picture, to Film Editing, to Costume Design. However, it has been reported that this year—and in past years—many of the “less popular” categories have been cut from televised production. This year, it was reported that eight categories will be removed from the live telecast, including Best Documentary Short, Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Production Design, Animated Short, Live Action Short, Sound, and Score. While the Academy claims that these cuts are meant to keep the ceremony under three hours, their decision resulted in an overflow of backlash, as many industry figures deemed it disrespectful. If the purpose is to highlight all the different roles of what goes into creating a film, how is it fair that only certain categories are shown on television?
With main categories like Best Picture, Actor, and Actress remaining on-screen, one wonders whether this is meant to promote certain films and increase ticket sales. Society is trying to create democratization of movies. While televised award shows may still have somewhat of an audience, word of mouth and social media has taken over as the new way of advertising movies.
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Furthermore, the controversial Academy Awards ceremony has been called rigged and unfair by some, as it is mostly white men who consistently win the awards. In 2015, the #OscarsSoWhite campaign called attention to the complete absence of racially diverse nominees, after the Academy failed to nominate any people of color in the top four acting categories. The campaign did not make much of an impact, as in 2021, Insider Magazine reported that in the top categories, 89% of nominations went to white people, and 71.1% of nominations went to men. The Academy has done a poor job of being inclusive, especially when they claim their goal is to “uphold excellence” within the motion picture industry.
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Since then, the Academy has implemented a set of inclusion standards that a movie needs to be eligible for a Best Picture nomination. In a shortened version of the standards explained on Vox, it lists that a movie must meet four different categories: Onscreen Representation/Themes and Narratives, Creative Leadership and Project Team, Industry Access and Opportunities, and Audience Development. Within each category are a variety of criteria requiring the inclusion of underrepresented groups, including women, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, and those with cognitive or physical disabilities.
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While the Academy has attempted to make progress in some areas, the popularity of the award ceremony is on the decline. The campaigning is overwhelming, underrepresentation is still an issue, and they are doing a disservice to the artists who do not get to receive their awards on live television. It will take a lot of work for the Academy to regain viewers, as well as support from creators. We’ll see what happens this Sunday!
Strike Out,
Writer: Nikki Cohen
Editor: Roxy Rico
Graphic Designer: Jacqueline Esguerra
Tallahassee