They are considered the most prestigious awards for film in the industry. The Academy Awards are given out each year to films for their achievements in cinema. They even call themselves "the world's preeminent movie-related organization of the most accomplished men and women working in cinema". You would assume that winning an Oscar is the highest honor anyone in the film industry could obtain. I’m about to explain to you why that’s no longer the case.
3D? Back in my day we only had 1D!
The first ceremony for the Academy Awards was held as a private event on May 16, 1929 with an audience of only 270 people. Today the ceremony is not only to reward people for their cinematic achievements but also to honor film as a whole. It’s become more of a celebration. Which is fine by me, except the ceremony today is long, tedious, and contains some cringingly forced humor. Not to mention that it gives actresses a reason to purchase a ridiculously expensive outfit and gives some washed up actors something to do on a Sunday night. But every year I ask myself why a certain person or film wasn’t recognized by being nominated for an award it surely deserves. A better question would be: why should I even care? Its because I have an appreciation for film. I want certain films that, even though I know will be overlooked, to be appreciated. You would think that the voters awarding the “best” films of the year would be a sample of the film-viewing population. After many years I’ve come to understand the “politics” behind it all. One of the main problems is how the awards are chosen.
When I first read these statistics, it certainly shined some light on my concern. According to a study by the LA Times, as of 2012, there are 5,783 members on the Academy Awards board. 77% of the voters are male, 86% are above the age of 50, and an astounding 94% are Caucasian. That leaves 2% as African Americans and less than 2% as Latino. Does that sound like a group of people that truly mirrors the public? I don't necessarily (key word there: necessarily) doubt or question the people that are on the board, but I feel as though if you are going to represent an entire population, it should be more diverse.
When I first read these statistics, it certainly shined some light on my concern. According to a study by the LA Times, as of 2012, there are 5,783 members on the Academy Awards board. 77% of the voters are male, 86% are above the age of 50, and an astounding 94% are Caucasian. That leaves 2% as African Americans and less than 2% as Latino. Does that sound like a group of people that truly mirrors the public? I don't necessarily (key word there: necessarily) doubt or question the people that are on the board, but I feel as though if you are going to represent an entire population, it should be more diverse.
I need a new garage to store all of these
Not all of the board members are actual "critics". Around half of the voters work or have worked in the industry, including Steven Spielberg, Michelle Williams, Colin Firth, Christoph Waltz, Harrison Ford, Judd Apatow, Diablo Cody, Christopher Nolan, Tom Hanks and even Erik Estrada (for some reason) just to name a few. I understand having actors, writers, directors and so on to be involved in the voting for these awards should be part of it because they all vote within their specific category (acting, writing, directing, etc). But the fact that they make up half of the entire board seems a bit lopsided. I don't agree that all the voters should be movie critics or reviewers either because the majority of people who watch movies aren't. When the average person watches a movie they aren't looking at the actual filmmaking. They are looking at the more obvious, stand-out elements of a movie (story, acting, action). Now whether or not they should be paying closer attention to the finer details is a completely different argument (which I plan to write about in the future). There should be a happy medium of technical, experienced, average, and (I suppose) even idiot movie-viewers.
That's why we always see the same actors, actresses, directors and same types of films get nominated year after year. Don't get me wrong, I think Daniel Day Lewis and Meryl Streep are probably the consistently finest actors working today, but there are so many more talented roles being portrayed on film that are not being recognized. Nothing angers me more than watching someone like Michael Fassbender or Gary Oldman put their heart and sole into a performance only to be overshadowed.
Supposedly once you are a voter for the Oscars, you are a voter for life. It is a lifetime commitment. Now that strikes me as problematic because, not to be prejudice against older people, but movies have come a long way, and they have certainly evolved. Older generations have grown up with and mainly been exposed to the same style of movies over the years. I'm sure there are definitely some older movie-viewers that appreciate art and different types of avant garde filmmaking, but generally they probably don't. Having a mainly older group of individuals vote on movies that aren't "like they used to be" is just silly. I can't tell you how many truly spectacular movies have been snubbed by the Oscars because of their misunderstood "modern style": Drive, Tree of Life (even though it was up for a few oscars, it took home nothing), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Melancholia, Holy Motors, Enter the Void, Fight Club, Memento, The Fountain, Dark City, and basically any David Lynch or pre-A History of Violence Cronenberg movie.
I'm not trying to say older viewers shouldn't be allowed to vote for the Oscars because they "don't get it". All I'm saying is that we should mix things up. Bring in some new voters and allow a current member to decline being a voter if they so choose (since they're probably just throwing their vote away because their heart just isn't in it) and bring in more ethnicity to the board. Why is it such a big deal? Denzel Washington put it perfectly by stating "If the country is 12% black, make the Academy 12% black. Why not?" Well put, John Q.
Ugh, I need a drink.
Written by: Kyle Cicilioni
Horn, John: Oscar voters Overwhelmingly White, Male
19 Feb. 2012
<http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-68188086/>
That's why we always see the same actors, actresses, directors and same types of films get nominated year after year. Don't get me wrong, I think Daniel Day Lewis and Meryl Streep are probably the consistently finest actors working today, but there are so many more talented roles being portrayed on film that are not being recognized. Nothing angers me more than watching someone like Michael Fassbender or Gary Oldman put their heart and sole into a performance only to be overshadowed.
Supposedly once you are a voter for the Oscars, you are a voter for life. It is a lifetime commitment. Now that strikes me as problematic because, not to be prejudice against older people, but movies have come a long way, and they have certainly evolved. Older generations have grown up with and mainly been exposed to the same style of movies over the years. I'm sure there are definitely some older movie-viewers that appreciate art and different types of avant garde filmmaking, but generally they probably don't. Having a mainly older group of individuals vote on movies that aren't "like they used to be" is just silly. I can't tell you how many truly spectacular movies have been snubbed by the Oscars because of their misunderstood "modern style": Drive, Tree of Life (even though it was up for a few oscars, it took home nothing), Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Melancholia, Holy Motors, Enter the Void, Fight Club, Memento, The Fountain, Dark City, and basically any David Lynch or pre-A History of Violence Cronenberg movie.
I'm not trying to say older viewers shouldn't be allowed to vote for the Oscars because they "don't get it". All I'm saying is that we should mix things up. Bring in some new voters and allow a current member to decline being a voter if they so choose (since they're probably just throwing their vote away because their heart just isn't in it) and bring in more ethnicity to the board. Why is it such a big deal? Denzel Washington put it perfectly by stating "If the country is 12% black, make the Academy 12% black. Why not?" Well put, John Q.
Ugh, I need a drink.
Written by: Kyle Cicilioni
Horn, John: Oscar voters Overwhelmingly White, Male
19 Feb. 2012
<http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-68188086/>
