Photo courtesy of Unsplash.
Yeah, yeah… Will Smith smacked the s**t out of Chris Rock. Did you know that?!? Did you HEAR?!? But before that happened, this year’s Oscars was plenty weird. The Oscars have been culturally and financially in decline for a long time now, so besides “The Slap,” what was weird about this year’s Oscars, and what does it mean?
Eli: Like it or not, nobody watches the movies:
The growing disparity between the types of movies that audiences actually go see and the types of movies that Oscar voters deem worthy for their highest honors has been a worsening issue for the Academy in the past 15+ years. And in a pandemic world, that disparity has gotten bigger. Even as the Academy has gone back and forth in recent history, trying desperately to make space for films that don’t fall under their traditionally, old, white umbrella of “Oscar Bait” (even upping the amount of Best Picture nominees from 5 to 10, to up to 10, back to a firm 10), it has still become more of a struggle to include blockbuster, genre, or even just “popular” entertainment. In fact, the only movie nominated for Best Picture this past year that was a legitimate financial success was Denis Villeneuve’s Dune, which still landed just outside the domestic box-office top 10. Everything else was either sent straight to streaming, or was a financial loss, regardless of how good, or how much big screen spectacle they provided.
While it’s not a shock that smaller or less accessible films like Belfast or The Power of the Dog didn’t do Marvel numbers, it’s somewhat sad that even movies like Spielberg’s West Side Story or high energy crowd pleaser King Richard, types of flicks that seemingly could have been mega-hits even 15 years ago, now fall short of the likes of Venom 2. What does and doesn’t deserve to be nominated for Best Picture is rightfully always going to be a debate so long as the Oscars exist, but the difference of opinions between the mainstream audience and the Academy voters has never been so far. The mainstream audience’s obsession with formulaic, intellectual property based event cinema, seldom, if ever, seems to intersect with the Academy’s obsession with the movies they blindly love.
Jimmy: The Strange Inclusion of Twitter Polls:
While some of the classic Hallmark awards of the ceremony were given out before the live broadcast, two brand new awards were announced during the telecast, though they did not come with trophies or acceptance speeches. These awards, “Oscars Cheer Moment” and “Oscars Fan Favorite”, were not decided by voting members of the academy but rather, Twitter users. These categories seemed to be created in response to complaints that the list of Bbest Ppicture nominees did not reflect the films general movie-going audiences had enjoyed or even seen in 2021.
One of the most prominent critics of the Academy’s choices was former Oscars host and late night icon Jimmy Kimmel, who began his monologue the night after the nominees were announced with jabs like, “The Power of the Dog got twelve nominations – one for every person who saw it.” Kimmel’s biggest gripe, however, was that the Academy did not nominate 2021’s highest grossing film, Spider-Man: No Way Home, for Bbest pPpicture. “Here’s what happened,” he said to his live audience, “the Academy voters, they looked at the list, they saw the names Leo DiCaprio, Meryl Streep, they checked that box then they put their kids in the car, and they went to see the movie Spider-Man.” While Kimmel’s monologue was done in tongue and cheek, it touched on a very real fear the Academy has about its decliningin losing its relevance.
Less than a week after Kimmel’s monologue, the Academy announcedannouncement was made that two polls that would allow people to vote through Twitter or the Academy website [for a fan favorite and cheer moment], to bewould be conducted and presentedannounced during the ceremony. Both categories seemed all but designed for the newest Spider-Man entry to win. Being the highest grossing film of the year, it was a shoo-in for “Oscars Fan Favorite” and considering that many videos of opening night audiences breaking into frenzied applause and cheers had gone viral, it seemed like a no-brainer for “Oscars Cheer Moment”.
The internet, however, is a hard thing to predict or control. While No Way Home placed 2nd and 4th in the “Cheer Moment” and “Fan Favorite” categories, respectively, it was bested by some baffling entries. The actual head scratching winner of the “Cheer” category was “The Flash Enters The Speed Force” from the 4-hour Zack Snyder director’s cut of the 2017 Justice League which was released on HBO MAX in April 2021. Director Zack Snyder has a strangely powerful online presence. His legion of fans bombarded Twitter and even purchased billboards and flew banners in order to pressure Warner Brothers into releasing “The Snyder Cut” of Justice League. Even after achieving that goal, Snyder-heads have nevertheless seized every opportunity to get their favorite director’s name into as many people’s mouths as possible.
Placing right above Spider-Man at the number three slot in the “Fan Favorite” category was Minamata. This historical drama starred Johnny Depp but was buried by its studio MGM after Depp’s controversial relationship with ex-wife Amber Heard led to a very public legal dispute. Depp, who was accused by Heard of domestic violence, began to be shut out of the high profile studio roles he was once known for. Depp insisted on his innocence and alleged Heard to be the abuser instead. Many took Depp’s side, with an especially passionate online base posting hashtags like #justiceforJohnnyDepp. It is improbable that most, if any, of the people who voted for Minimata actually watched the film. Its presence in the category is purely a byproduct of Depp’s diehard fans. In the number one spot, Zack Snyder once again reigned supreme with his Netflix zombie heist flick Army of the Dead. Both categories seemed to be met with a muted and confused response from the audience at the ceremony and lampoonery on social media. The awards seemed like a failure to accomplish the extending of the olive branch to general audiences the Academy was hoping for but a major victory for obsessive fans of Snyder and Depp.
Jimmy: The Underwhelming Film Tributes:
The Oscars are all about celebrating cinema, so it makes sense that this year’s broadcast included tributes to two of the most respected film franchises of all time, James Bond and The Godfather, which were celebrating their 60th and 50th anniversaries, respectively. A host of legendary players have been involved in the Bond franchise, from Billie Eilish—, who won an Ooscar this year for her original song for the franchise’s 25th film this year—, as well as Oscar-winning actors like Javier Bardem and Judi Dench, who were both present at this year’s ceremony. None of these people were involved in the tribute, however, which was instead introduced by extreme athletes Tony Hawk, Shaun White and Kelly Slater—three people who notably have nothing to do with James Bond. What followed was a two-minute montage of moments from the series that, while entertaining, did not feel too different from the compilations people throw together on YouTube.
One would think the Academy would have the pull to create a tribute that showcased their ability to put icons of the film industry in the same room. Imagine if every living actor who had played James Bond (George Lazenby, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig) came out on stage instead of three randomly assembled athletes. The Godfather tribute at least pulled off something closer to that sentiment. Though it began with an inexplicable introduction from rapper Sean “P Diddy” Combs, followed by a montage of the trilogy of films that was oddly set to a medley of rap songs, the tribute culminated with an appearance from director Francis Ford Coppola, who gave a short but heartfelt speech, and stars Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro, who said absolutely nothing. While it was impressive to see this trio together, why stop there? Why not include James Caan, Diane Keaton, Robert DuVall, Talia Shire, Sofia Coppola or Andy Garcia? It’s only going to be possible to get these people in the same room for so long. If the Academy wants to make these tributes worthy of the broadcast time it supposedly values so much, they could work a little harder to make them memorable.
Eli: Despite efforts, the ceremony is brutal
The only year that the Oscars had lower viewership than this year for their annual award show was last year. You know, the year where almost nothing came out. For years people in and outside of the Academy have tried to deduce and fix the cause of this steady decrease in popularity. People theorize that it’s because the show has gotten too political, or because they don’t pick the right nominees, or the host was wrong, or because it’s not on a streaming service. I find that the fall of the Oscars is something that people tend to attribute to a singular cause that fits their own agenda, when in reality it’s likely the amalgamation of all of these reasons and more.
While it’s not the reason I most agree with, I can’t fully refute that some people may not want to watch an event where celebrities wearing clothes that cost more than most people’s houses accept statues made of gold they decided to give out while speaking on world issues. More in my wheelhouse is their ongoing bias as to which films they nominate, and the fact that so few people watch them (read more below), and to boot, yes the event is not streaming. In order to watch the Oscars live you still need to have cable and tune in to ABC. As fewer and fewer people each year watch any television that isn’t online, it’s shocking that the Oscars have been unable to adapt. If I can watch March Madness live via WIFI, it seems absurd I can’t watch the Oscars without a cable box.
However this year, in an effort to assist with their other most received complaint (the interminable runtime of the show), ABC elected to announce the winners of multiple awards before the telecast began and broadcast an abbreviated version of each live. Not only did this infuriate movie fans, somehow, miraculously, from the GOD D*MN bleachers, the show was LONGER than last year at 220 minutes. This was also the first show since 2019 to feature hosts, this years being Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes. Maybe if the broadcast was intended to be 2 hours we’d be more willing to put up with comedy bits, but intertwined with the excruciating length of this whole ordeal, the attempts at laughs came across as painfully lacking in self awareness, as well as inherently awkward and unfunny.
But the biggest reason to me why the Oscars have lost viewership is because of social media. I don’t even say this with anger or confusion either. It makes perfect sense. The Oscars used to provide a very rare look into the lives of your favorite celebrities, and now that you can find your favorite stars online, every day, this isn’t a special thing. Watching an almost four hour broadcast, on cable tv (if you can find access), about movies you didn’t see, filled with comedy bits you don’t find funny, is not worth it if all you want to see is what dress Zendaya wore. You can just look it up on Instagram. If you want to know if this person won or not, it will be on Twitter the second it’s announced. If all you want to see is your favorite actor make an acceptance speech, it’ll be on YouTube in an hour. More people have watched the slap online than caught it live. The celebrity experience is not only no longer “special” enough to merit watching the Oscars, but it takes 4 seconds in your hand, compared to 4 hours on your parent’s TV.
