And who cares about Oscar?

probably during your celebration. other accidents happen, or idiots, or embarrassing slapstick moments, even if they’re not. And the problem is that there are such unpredictable and inimitable moments, at least for the organizers of the gala. are the most memorable of the latest ceremonies. And it feels like the other thing, the rewards themselves, are less and less important.

Does anyone remember before going to Google? Which actors and actresses won the award last year besides Smith?? Who’s counting the days until the new title winner in the Best Adapted Screenplay category is announced?

audience drop

it is assumed that The Oscars have lost their relevance in recent years. As they reach their goals mid 90s high pointin close numbers 50 million viewers in the United States aloneaudience averages of premieres are falling rapidly; despite the famous slapwithout going any further, 2022 was the second least watched year in history -the least watched is the one that was closed a year ago- and the decrease in the number of viewers, scare advertisers and therefore major television networksand the resulting budget cut would force event organizers to remove Piper-Heidsieck champagne from catering. It’s normal for them to worry.

Some of the measures the Hollywood Academy has taken to reverse this trend for some time are perfectly understandable. add more youth, more women and more minorities to its membership. Others, on the other hand, are more controversial. To please those who couldn’t see the gala because it was too long, They reduced the number of movie clips aired throughout and belittled the presenter figure.; Delivery of figurines corresponding to eight categories in the same way last year Best Editing and Best Sound, pre-made and pre-recordedas it has been with some honors for a while.

And to attract the attention of those who don’t usually show interest in these awards, They have identified several public awards in 2022designed to reward the more popular and grossing movies—that is, movies of superheroes—and Voted on Twitter. In other words, They are doing everything possible to make the Oscars less and less like the Oscars..

The new standard in audiovisual consumption

The truth is, the ceremony’s growing loss of audience is due to a number of reasons, but none of them are related to what was or wasn’t during the ceremony. The first is, in fact, a phenomenon that affects all live television broadcasts: iPhones and tablets as well as the Internet and streaming have imposed a revolution. a new standard in our audiovisual entertainment consumption, a la carte and isolated and intermittentand therefore contrary to the social experience that cinema has embodied for more than a century.

And the replacement of the big screen for the small screen has not only removed movies from being the main purveyor of celebrities, it has also changed the morphology of Hollywood filmmaking as a whole, because after all it’s the elements of a feature film. Photo, music and sound montages stand out less when your phone is your showcase and as such, some will say it requires less maintenance.

Among the major victims of this paradigm shift Half a century ago, at a time when the awards were getting more attention, there are the kinds of titles that monopolized Oscar nominations; Films designed to be viewed on the big screen, such as “Titanic”, “Saving Private Ryan” or “Braveheart”, are professionally commercial and designed to attract as many adult audiences as possible.

superheroes resist

Let’s remember for now single fictions that attract a large amount of public opinion to the cinema systematically or almost alone, they are superheroes. And while the Hollywood Academy is facing more and more pressure to open itself up to these “blockbuster movies,” doing so means not only questioning its own existence and legitimizing the worst trends in the industry, but also, we say, helping, not increasing, the premiere’s audience.

The Oscars will continue to exist because they serve the prestige and ticket sales of the big studios, feeding the careers and egos of the artists. And they will continue to attract more attention than prizes in other guilds, such as doctors or plumbers. so desperately belly button show maybe it deserves In any case, they will certainly continue to lose their relevance. And for those in charge, taking it on with sportsmanship means letting the Oscars continue to be Oscars with their own mix. sensuality and tastelessness and bannerism and megalomania.