Well, I survived Oscar weekend, which was filled with baking for a party I co-hosted with friends. The show itself is pretty much a blur, but I consider it to be an above average undertaking, though I think Neil Patrick Harris got swallowed by awesome stage design. There were some very high notes, and I missed most of the jokes that died. The big headlines however are that the ratings were at a six year low. Why is that?
After quite a few years of hiatus, I re-entered and won the Oscar pool. This is mostly due to the fact that I am still an avid reader of awards websites, not because I have seen all the movies. My friends who tried to compete with me came at the Oscar ballot at an extreme disadvantage, because while American Sniper is an outright blockbuster, the rest of the nominees from Best Picture on down (save Animated Feature and the industry awards) are all middle of the road money makers, even though The Grand Budapest Hotel is Wes Anderson's top grossing movie. Wes Anderson is no Steven Spielberg.
I really do not believe that the glut of awards shows is the problem, either, because I do not believe most people even care outside of the Golden Globes, which is really just watched to see if some drunken celebrity will do something stupid. Unfortunately, I think the Academy is more likely to assume "awards fatigue" is the problem instead of truly looking inward at themselves. Here are some of the issues I see:
- Art vs. Entertainment
I cannot begrudge the Academy for wanting to honor those movies that strive to be art, but unfortunately, it is rare that those movies end up being popular with the general population. Sure, there are quite a few Best Picture winners that have scored over $100 million (it would be interesting to see how much nominations and wins effected that earning), but there are only three since 1990 who have achieved more than $200 million - 2003 LOTR: The Return of the King, 1994 Forrest Gump, and of course, 1997 Titanic. Of course, the great argument is whether these blockbusters were actually the "Best" movies of the year, but it is a pretty subjective question anyway. However, if you're going to look at just ratings of the telecasts, the highest ratings of all time was the year Titanic won, and the highest ratings since 2000 was the year of The Return of the King. So you see, the ratings have nothing to do with who is hosting or who is singing what, it has everything to do with the general populace buying into the horse race with enough passion to want to tune in to see if their favorite won.
Of course, I would never want to see a Best Picture race comprised of the top ten grossing films of the year, because, obviously, popularity does not connote quality, but if year in and year out we are going to bemoan the falling ratings of the telecast, then the Oscars really need to figure out a way to celebrate movies that reach the cultural zeitgeist as well as those that are the pinnacle of the craft.
Source: Box Office Mojo & WikiPedia
- The Show Itself
I have already established the connection between popular nominees and ratings. It certainly was not Neil Patrick Harris' fault that this year's show tanked. However, the show itself is a bloated mess and a joke in and of itself. Everyone already knows that it will run long, but they keep adding in more and more in the hopes of keeping people engaged. I really think the whole things needs to be scrapped and start from scratch, with nothing sacred even the current category structure. Of course, this will never happen because of the structure of the Academy itself, and it would be a slippery slope to say that you'll just include Writing, Supporting Actor/Actress, Actor/Actress, Director, and Picture. Best Original Song at least brings something to the proceedings, though the rules are so arcane it makes for odd choices. However, despite the artistry, no one really cares about Documentaries, Shorts, Foreign Language Film, and the majority of the tech categories (except maybe for special effects).
With that being said, their could be MORE categories, too. Each of the shows that have popped up seem to have at least one innovative category. The Golden Globes split Drama & Comedy (usually not well), the Screen Actor's Guild honors Best Ensemble, etc. There should be something for stunt people, too.
- Eliminate the Host
I decided to break this one out on it's own from the one above. No offense to everyone who has come before, but being the Oscar host has to be the single most thankless job in entertainment. Jesus Christ herself could get up there, and someone would still complain. The reality of the matter is that outside of the opening, there really is no need for one. It's better to just get out of the way and start the show.
I am sure I could armchair quarterback this some more, and I know I do not fully comprehend the pressure the producers are under to make the show the same every year. However, something needs to change, and I have not even gone into the nuts and bolts of this whitest Oscars in many years. I just hope they have a real conversation about it. Things need to change.
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