The Academy of Motion Picture Arts is under fire for slashing eight categories from the Oscar telecast next month. This past Tuesday, The Academy announced that the awards for documentary short, film editing, makeup and hairstyling, original score, production design, animated short, live action short and sound, will be announced before the official ceremony even begins. What is even worse is that they will be announced ahead of time via social media. Many fans of the show and well regarded members of the industry are very upset at this decision.
WHY ARE PEOPLE UPSET ABOUT THIS?
Many professionals in the industry feel disrespected that The Academy is blatantly disregarding their categories for the televised show. These great talents put in amazing work all year long, only for them to be deemed not as important as the acting or directing categories. This change to the show is stating they The Academy doesn’t view these artisans as essential to film. How can you make a film without editing or music or even production design? All these fields help immerse audiences into the film. Many of these workers including some of this years nominees (most of which anonymous) have vocally expressed their displeasure with this change and some are even debating not even attending the show altogether. Fans of the Oscars are voicing their displeasure as well, creating a hashtag on social media called #Presentall23.
WHY IS THIS EVEN HAPPENING?
Personally I believe that ABC is behind this decision and not The Academy. For years, the ratings of the Oscar telecast has been plummeting. In 2021, the ratings for the Oscars hit an all time low with only 9.23 million viewers. That is a fifty one percent drop from the previous year’s ratings. Naturally suits at ABC assume this is because the show is too long and that categories need to be cut out from the show. There was an attempt to cut categories back in 2018, but the likes of Hollywood legends such as Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese pushed hard against it in a public letter. What is it that ABC is trying to do? Why do they think they can market the Oscars as some type of Hollywood Super Bowl?
THE GOD’S HONEST TRUTH
If you want the truth about the Oscars, here it is. It is an incredibly niche event only cinephiles will care about. ABC cutting awards is disrespectful to the craft, the people who put hours of their lives into their work, and what the Oscars stand for. The Oscars are supposed to be a time capsule of film history, honoring the year’s best work. Sure there is internal politics and it isn’t always going to acknowledge stuff that everyone appeals to. The Oscars don’t have to be forced to nominate popular films such as “Spider-Man No Way Home” to appease normal people. Smaller films such as “Drive My Car” or “The Worst Person In The World” benefit from these nominations, helping independent film earn more money. No offense but a Marvel film with a billion dollar box office and good reviews, doesn’t need Oscar nominations. Look at 2019 when “Joker” was nominated for Best Picture and received eleven nominations. The ratings still dropped as they do everywhere. ABC maybe you need to realize that overall people are not watching cable anymore and pure Neilson ratings are a pure metric to judge your telecast. Focus on your core demo and build upon it ABC. You should add categories such as Stunt Ensemble and Casting Directors. Most importantly, air every damn category.
