Time We All Cut Oscar Some Slack And Remember Why Need Both Him And The Academy
The Oscars made some news last week, but not for the reason they’d like.
The Academy Awards are used to being regular Monday morning water cooler fare. Everyone loves to hate on the Academy’s choices and are often incensed when their favourites are snubbed (or not even nominated). Then there’s the usual chatter about who wore what, who said what, the host’s performance (and truth be told, I don’t know why anyone would want that particulate gig) and any unscripted gaffs that may have crept up.
But this year Oscar made news for another reason; record low ratings. The 26.5 million viewers the Oscars drew is the lowest in its history and sparked a brief Twitter feud between President Trump (because he apparently doesn’t have anything more important on his plate) and host Jimmy Kimmel (who has taken the Trump administration to the wood shed on his late night talk show several times already). It also inspired an Old Testament sized flood of columns, blogposts and stories explaining why so few eyeballs tuned in and offering suggestions to right the ratings ship.
The show was too long (true), there was too much politics (code for too much politics the writer/columnist/blogger in question disagreed with), it didn’t include enough popular movies (debatable), the host needs to be better (50/50) and so on and so forth. And virtually every examination seemed to ignore the reality facing broadcast television in general; digital streaming. Every awards show and major TV event is experiencing a significant drop in ratings as a result of new and emerging platforms (while critics pointed to the NFL’s diminishing TV ratings this past season, they ignored the fact that more and more people are watching their Monday Night Football on their computers and tablets).
I too was once a vocal member of the tribe that considered the Oscars obsolete and the Academy a collection of self congratulatory elites celebrating things no one saw or cared about.
And that’s part of the point.
I’ve recently come around on the Oscars importance precisely because they celebrate quality and not popularity.
The most common complaint you hear when the nominations are made is that while the actors are often familiar, the movies they’re nominated for (not to mention the movies being nominated) are complete mysteries. They were films that sailed unnoticed through the local multiplex or were restricted to brief runs at arthouses. And let’s be honest, is there any time of the year a movie about the deteriorating relationship between an eccentric mother and her stubborn daughter or a pioneer in the fashion industry or a team of investigative reporters looking into sex abuse by the Catholic Church can compete with the latest comic book blockbuster, Star Wars sequel or Pixar juggernaut?
Don’t get me wrong, I love those aforementioned movies. And sometimes those films can have plenty of artistic merit. Pixar changed the face of Hollywood forever and it’s most recent film Coco (winner of the Best Animated Feature) was full of heart and fearless self awareness. As far as comic book movies go, can any other movies claim to be as powerful (and successful) cultural touchstones as Wonder Woman and Black Panther?
The reality is that small, intimate movies with performances as moving as they are memorable have no place in Hollywood’s buffet of offerings. And if they do manage to find a place on the marquee, they’re virtually ignored in favour of big budget blockbusters. The Oscars not only recognize their artistic merit, but they also offer them pop culture recognition they’d never enjoy otherwise.
I never would have seen the brilliantly written, crafted and acted The Big Short if it hadn’t been nominated for Best Picture in 2015. If it hadn’t been for his regular appearances in the Best Actor category, I may never have become the Daniel Day Lewis fan I am today (his retirement brings a small tear to my eye). And I had zero interest in seeing either Ladybird or Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri until I saw their names in the Best Picture category this year. After seeing a few clips (not to mention the trophies Three Billboards took home) and some of the performances they include, they’re both on my must see list. With a bullet.
And would the public at large know or care about movies like Twelve Years A Slave, Hurt Locker, No Country For Old Men, Slumdog Millionaire, Birdman, Moonlight or The Artists if they hadn’t won Best Picture? Would anyone have known about the late Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s brilliant performance in Capote if he hadn’t won the Oscar for best actor in 2005? Not likely.
(And before the haters respond that the general movie going public wouldn’t care one way or another, explain to me why movies almost always get a million dollar bump at the box office after just being nominated? Go ahead, I’ll wait).
And none of this is to mention the unknowns that the Oscars shed light on every year. The documentaries, the foreign actors getting recognition in mainstream Hollywood fare, the music. Be honest, you had no idea who Soarise Ronan was until she was nominated for Best Actress in 2015 and then again this year. And trust me, everybody should know this young actress before she’s cast in a Marvel or Star Wars movie.
As a show, the Oscars often leave a lot to be desired (seriously, if the show starts at nine I shouldn’t still be waiting to see who wins Best Picture after midnight) but their importance will always remain, Especially given Hollywood’s recent shift to releasing big budget spectacles ten months of the year (a shift mandated by the ticket buying public no less). The Oscars will continue to (or should) reward excellence both in front of and behind the camera and champion movie-making as a whole.
The truth is we need movies like Spotlight and Schindler’s List and There Will Be Blood. We need performers like Daniel Day Lewis and Merryl Streep (actors you would never find in big budget tent pole releases). We need directors like Guillermo del Toro and Greta Gerwig. We need stories like Hidden Figures and Get Out. Unfortunately the multiplex has become less than welcoming to them and while streaming may change that, for now The Oscars appear to the best place to showcase and celebrate them.
So maybe its time we all laid off Oscar a little bit and granted him a shred or two of respect.
Image The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and ABC
