The Oscars are dumbing down

THE OSCARS ARE DUMBING DOWN. Richard Fitzwilliams, film critic, is available on 07939602749 www.richardfitzwilliams.com @RFitzwilliams

Falling ratings, even for the greatest show on earth, cause concern and the 2018 Oscars (3 hours 53 minutes) only drew an audience of 26.5 million of mainly older viewers, the lowest ever. Contrast this with the 57 million who tuned in in 1997 when Titanic won which is the record. In 2009 the audience was 36 million when Hugh Jackman hosted. Restricting the ceremony to three hours means winners in the technical categories will miss being seen by a mass audience save in a brief package. ABC which broadcasts the Oscars, pushed for urgent changes.

It has long been the case that the so called “blockbusters”, to some of us the often mindless sci-fi movies which make a fortune, are not nominated in the list of up to ten movies for Best Picture. The Dark Knight, for example, was excluded in 2009. Black Panther seems a certainty to win in the new category Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film in 2019. The last new category was added in 2001 to include animated films, this makes sense. We await the criteria for it though these films will still, apparently, be eligible for Best Picture. But what is “popular”? Is it defined purely by box office considerations?

One of the strengths of the Oscars, especially recently, is the way they nominate low budget films such as Call Me By Your Name, The Phantom Thread and others. These are often seen by few and so the ceremony has less viewing appeal though the low budget Moonlight got a large box office bounce when it won. However the Oscars should, of course, be about rewarding merit alone.

Some 2,000 new members have been added to the Academy’s membership over the last 3 years to make it more diverse after the ~OscarsSoWhite controversy which was necessary given its previous make up. Many are from abroad and this may make it easier for non-English language films to get nominations outside the Foreign Language category which would be a good idea.

However this new category will rightly be seen by some as dumbing down. The ceremony is also moving to February 9th from 2020, the fear is that viewers are bored with awards. These changes are nothing to do with merit and everything to do with ratings. They call the Academy’s judgement into question as it has been panicked too easily. The Academy is currently trying to finance a museum, it must take care its annual awards ceremony does not become one by lowering its standards!