By Wyatt Garlow/Staff Writer
Ever since the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929, Hollywood has been eager to flex its viewpoints not only on current movies and television but also on the latest social issues. But what was once a prestigious function is now seen as merely a three-hour commercial. With declining viewership and numerous controversies, are award shows becoming irrelevant?
Even though young Americans are watching more movies and TV shows due to streaming, viewership of award shows has dropped. Forbes reported that the 92nd Oscars earlier this year had an average audience of 23.6 million viewers, which is an eight-year low for the ceremony. With busy schedules and a horrendously long runtime, why watch what’s basically now a controversy generator?
A major argument against the Academy is that it’s filled with old white men who will pick movies and TV shows that don’t go against the grain of their views, which isn’t necessarily wrong. With #Oscarssowhite trending in 2015 and the more recent win of Green Book in 2018, awards shows seem to prefer diluted stories about racism and racial allegories instead of stories told by people of color. The Academy has tried to diversify its organization; according to Variety, the number of people of color within the Academy went from 8 percent in 2015 to 16 percent in 2019.
Still, with the most recent round of awards season filled with missed nominations and questionable choices all around, one has to ask if awards still mean something today. The truth is that movies and TV shows do receive a bump after being nominated or winning. After Moonlight won Best Picture in 2017, it earned $2.5 million in its first weekend after the award, Time reported. But what does that mean when the films and shows that deserve to be nominated aren’t?
It’s inevitable that award shows are going to continue going on, and in this polarized political environment, the award speeches will only get worse. If award shows reduce their run time, have recurring hosts, and listen with their minds and not their wallets on what to nominate, maybe award shows won’t become a dying tradition.