The Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, is a ceremony held every year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The purpose behind the ceremony, according to the academy, is “to recognize and uphold excellence in the motion picture arts and sciences, inspire imagination, and connect the world through the medium of motion pictures.”
However, the Oscars have a broken voting system and a clear set of biases against certain types of films and filmmakers. Throughout its history, confusing voting decisions, overly long ceremonies, a large old white male voting demographic, and monotonous hosts have plagued the organization.
Due to these issues, public interest waned over the past decade and continues to dip to unprecedented levels. As a response, the Oscars tried to change how the awards are presented and the types of awards given, which only infuriated academy voters.
To say the academy is in a mess is an understatement. What was once a historically important ceremony that celebrated creative voices within the filmmaking industry is now seen as a laughingstock by the greater public. While the issues listed above are contributing factors to the academy’s image change, I think a few other reasons exist.
The idea of film is evolving, whether the academy likes it or not
The internet changed a countless number of industries, and film is not an exception. Techniques and ideas are shared all around online, making filmmaking more accessible and, in turn, over-saturated.
In the ‘70s, Hollywood was seen as the place to make movies, at least in America. But independent filmmaking was slowly taking over throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s, and the internet helped accelerate that process.
Nowadays, with platforms like YouTube and Twitter, independent filmmakers can promote their work to a wider audience with little to no money. Foreign films outside of the United States are also easily accessible, allowing for even more voices to be heard.
If the academy wants to evolve with the times, then they should look to these innovators and take them more seriously, much like how the academy treated “Parasite,” 2019’s best picture winner.
The Weinstein scandal shook Hollywood
Harvey Weinstein’s crimes became an open secret throughout Hollywood elites, but, for any number of reasons, they were kept away from the public. He was a powerful producer, most notably producing films like “Kill Bill,” “Gangs of New York,” and “Shakespeare in Love,” with the latter winning best picture due to, in larger, his aggressive Oscars campaign.
With this power and influence, the women speaking out against Weinstein and his sexual crimes would be blacklisted from the industry. But once victims started speaking out, Hollywood began to reflect on itself and understand how this exploitation is continuing. Change is happening, but until all predators, like Weinstein or Brian Singer, are outed and blacklisted, then Hollywood and the academy’s image will remain shattered.
The biases against horror movies are unfair
Horror is a genre overflowing with debatably trashy and exploitative films that don’t add much artistic value to film as a medium. At least this is how the voters might view the genre, given their history with it. The academy has only nominated six horror films for Best Picture in the ceremony’s history, which were “The Exorcist,” “Jaws,” “Silence of the Lambs,” “The Sixth Sense,” “Black Swan,” and “Get Out.”
All of these are considerably great films, but the academy needs to open itself more to horror in order to attract more attention to the ceremony. This shallow look at horror ignores the meaningful and expressive films from directors like Ari Aster (“Hereditary;” “Midsommar”), Zach Cregger (“Barbarian”), or Kyle Edward Ball (“Skinamarink”). Horror can mean much more than blood and gore.
The academy is in a bit of a rut with viewership, but the organization can adjust to help gain those viewers back. Will these adjustments be made? As a consistent viewer of the ceremony, I think such changes will happen, but not for some time. But as of now, boycotting the Oscars is the best way to scare and change them, or else the awards will slowly become irrelevant to the public.
Alex Ross
Alex Rossis a third-year Communication student at Lock Haven with a focus in Journalism. This is his second year as an active member of the Eagle Eye and has been the Arts and Entertainment editor, News editor, and an active writer. He focuses on writing reviews for the A&E section, but has written stories for news, sports, and opinions. Outside of the newsroom, Alex enjoys record shopping, reading classic literature, and analyzing films. Alex hopes to work for a film or music news site as a writer or editor after graduation.
