What’s Wrong with the Oscars and Why the Golden Statuette Guarantees Actors Just a Big Paycheck, Not Audience Love

The 94th Academy Awards will take place on March 27. Ten productions will compete for the title of Best Film. However, despite the fact that the golden statuette is still considered one of the most important and popular awards in cinema, every year the event receives more and more complaints, and the number of spectators decreases.

We, from awesome.club, we decided to find out why the Oscars are causing more and more disapproval, both from professional critics and from a large number of spectators. And at the end of the article our readers will find a bonus which will reveal the new rules of the ceremony, which will be introduced from 2025.

Oscar judges are members of the California Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, whose names remain unknown🇧🇷 Currently, the number of scholars eligible to vote is over 9,000, a third of whom have previously been nominated for the award.

The main complaints in recent years relate to the lack of any diversity among the judges, including gender and race. And we must admit that they are fair, as the result of the vote has always been a reflection of the average taste of a small group of people quite stable in their preferences because of their social status, gender and age. By the way, it is not so easy to become a member of the Academy: the selection takes place once a year, and to receive the invitation the potential candidate needs to receive the support of two current members. In addition, one must be a prominent member of the modern film industry.

So the Academy really has the atmosphere of a private club🇧🇷 The opacity of the voting system can give the impression that it works exclusively for its own interest, and that behind the decisions there is an anonymous film industry.

It is worth noting that every year American magazines publish numerous articles alleging that some members of the Academy Haven’t even seen all the nominated movies to Oscar.

You’ve probably heard the expression “Oscar bait”. It did not appear by chance and has already become a cliché. They say that over time a perfect formula was found for a film to have every chance of winning the prestigious award. To win, the production needs to be moving, address a current issue, include an impressive story, and stand out for the powerful transformation of the actors.

We believe that filmmakers are not so prepotent that make your movies specifically “for the Oscars”, but it really is much easier to get money from producers for a potentially winning story. An excellent example of this is the long-running Dallas Buyers Club, which meets all the aforementioned requirements and whose victory was evident shortly after the trailer was released.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that the winners aren’t talented or don’t deserve the statuette, but sometimes the voting results are so predictable that they end up with any surprises.

Almost all Hollywood celebrities dream of winning the coveted award. However, there are some particularly “lucky” actors and actresses who year after year are nominated for an Oscar but never win, as the much desired figurine ends up going to others🇧🇷 An example of this is actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who went without winning any awards for 22 years, even becoming a meme. The actor has had dozens of powerful jobs, while some of his peers have won Oscars after appearing on screen for just a few minutes (let’s be clear that this does not detract from the talent of the winners).

Still without a statuette are several excellent professionals, such as Amy Adams, Edward Norton, Will Smith, Monica Bellucci, Tom Cruise, Glenn Close (who, incidentally, has already been nominated for an Oscar eight times) and Johnny Depp.

The reason for all this is not clear. Yes, some actors are already associated with a certain stereotype, others simply refuse to “work for a prize”, that is, to attend relevant events, and there are also those who are simply unlucky. In any case, injustice remains a fact and cannot leave fans indifferent.

Since the end of the 2000s, instead of five productions nominated, there are about eight to ten for the Best Picture category. Nonetheless, it’s not easy that ten really good films are made in a year and worthy of an Oscar. Of course, there are still some masterpieces among the nominees, but in general it seems that the percentage of unremarkable films is currently quite high. And it is rather doubtful that ordinary viewers will review the winning films of previous years. Yes, Nomadland, The Shape of Water and Parasite are quality productions, but they still failed to win the hearts of millions of viewers like Titanic, Forrest Gump — The Storyteller or American Beauty.

Furthermore, according to recent research, nowadays the public is unaware of half of the films Oscar-nominated, although many of them were shown in theaters or included on streaming platforms.

To arouse the public’s interest in the annual awards, an innovation was introduced this year: online spectator voting. It was released by the Academy in partnership with Twitter, so Internet users can choose what they consider to be the best film of the year. In the end, the favorites turned out to be movies. not chosen by academics: the musical Cinderella, the feature films Minamata, Zack Snyder’s Justice League and Spider-Man: Never Go Home.

Unfortunately, the audience for the ceremony is getting smaller and smaller. Last year, the number of viewers dropped to a historic low: Less than 10 million people watched the live stream. Why did this happen? There are different opinions, but many experts believe that the organizers of the event failed to meet the expectations of the modern public. Before, the ceremony used to be a big show with really magnificent performances, funny jokes and memorable presenters. However, in recent years, it has become an event for a restricted group of people, with long speeches, no musical numbers and no presenter.

In addition, the ceremony was accused of sustaining the image of the so-called “Hollywood bubble”, as it is no longer a celebration of cinema, but of a glamorous and unapproachable party🇧🇷 Taking into account the drop in ratings, it seems that the public has had enough of Hollywood’s cult of unattainable stars.

New standards were recently announced to be followed by directors of films competing for the title of Best Picture. According to the new rules, from 2025 one of the following principles must be fulfilled: at least one of the actors who play the main roles must be from a racial or ethnic minority; at least 30% of the cast must be made up of women or representatives of the LGBTQ+ group or people with disabilities; and the main theme of the film needs to deal with the problems of these groups. Finally, Academy members will pay attention not only to the film itself, but to the entire production process, in which the principle of diversity must also be respected.

On the one hand, it is a step in the right direction, as these innovations provide an opportunity for many talented people to reveal themselves. On the other hand, strict rules do not always have a positive impact on the creation process. After all, it is not easy to produce masterpieces when there is someone who determines what, who and how to shoot.

What do you think about the Oscar awards? Which of this year’s nominees are you rooting for? Tell us in the comments!