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| The reception of the very first Academy Awards in 1929 -not a lot has changed. |
At the very first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929, there was an accolade handed out that has never been present at any ceremony since. It was called the Best Unique or Artistic Picture Award and its sole winner is F.W. Murnau’s Sunrise, or a Song of Two Humans, a far better film than Best Picture winner Wings. It was discontinued after a year because the Academy realized it was redundant and lessened the very idea of a “Best Picture”. Wings was a more popular movie, and during the early years of the Academy it was essentially a popularity contest, but eventually it adopted the idea behind the Best Unique or Artistic Picture more than simply the movie that was most successful that year.
Earlier today it was announced that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in an attempt to boost dwindling ratings for their Oscar show, were going to be changing some significant aspects of their ceremony starting with next years’ awards. Firstly, they’re going to move some of their lower-profile categories off the show to the commercial breaks, with only brief recaps during the main show a la the Tonys. Sound mixers and sound designers will almost certainly be affected by this and I won’t be surprised if the three short film categories (live-action, animated, and documentary) are eliminated altogether despite assurances no award will be completely removed from the telecast.
But the other and arguably more significant change is the addition of a new category for Best Popular Film, or something to that effect, which will award a commercially successful film of the year; and unlike the Foreign Language, Animated, or Documentary awards, this one will likely be presented on close if not equal terms with Best Picture to rouse more audience interest.
I hate this. I really really do. To start, if the Academy wants to condense their show to actually end on time for a change, there are far better ways to do that than by sidelining peoples’ chance to celebrate their achievements just because a supporting performance is arbitrarily more important than production design. Maybe cut those stupid stunts for example, like ordering pizza or crashing a movie screening, that are almost always more awkward than entertaining to watch. Or the live performances of Best Original Song nominees that most likely were introduced to bring in more viewers, but are really an exercise more fit for the Tonys. There are plenty of gags and sketches that pad out the runtime, and they can be funny, but they’re not important in a show that’s’ purpose is to honour excellence.
And the addition of an award for popular movies is the most blatant type of pandering that greatly insults both the Best Picture nominees and its own. The prestige of the art of the one is lessened by the presence of the other and any movies nominated in the new category are being told their primary value is how much money they’ve made. This move also insults cinephiles and Oscar fans, as well as casual moviegoers, suggesting that the movies they pay to see aren’t good enough to be considered Best Picture worthy (I mean, by and large they aren’t, but its’ bad form to openly say so). It’s so obvious this is a desperate push to win viewers over and I don’t think that many are going to fall for it.
What’s also clear is that this is an excuse to give Black Panther a nomination, and at this point in the year it’s deserving of one without all this bullshit. It doesn’t need a new category to be nominated; it’s in the same class as movies like Indian Horse and First Reformed. Michael B. Jordan gave still the best supporting performance I’ve seen this year, the costuming and production design are well-worth Oscar notice, and Ryan Coogler at least deserves consideration for his direction. But Black Panther couldn’t possibly be nominated for Best Picture as a blockbuster! It’s that same othering that resulted in the periphery movie categories, which imply that foreign language, animated, or documentary films are separate entities that don’t count as “Best Pictures” -only those categories at least serve a purpose in granting more exposure for films that otherwise wouldn’t get any. “Popular movies” get tons of exposure already, make bank for their studio, and don’t need any more recognition than they already get.
At the end of the day all this does is cheapen the Oscars’ value and detract even more from their credibility. In a way it’s a kind of hilarious bid for attention, if it weren’t coming at the expense of esteemed artists getting their accomplishments brushed over. The Oscars have an image problem, there’s no denying that, but this is certainly not the answer. In fact if anything, it proves just how out of touch the Academy is. By attempting to make the Oscars seem less elitist for a casual moviegoing audience, they’ve made themselves look more elitist than ever.
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