What Do The New Changes To The Oscars Mean?
And the winner is... probably Black Panther.
As you may have seen, the Academy has announced some significant changes coming to the Oscars, chief amongst them being the introduction of a new category, the Achievement In Popular Film (Well done Black Panther, you deserve it).
The response to this has been noisy to say the least. On one hand, you have those claiming these changes are overdue and necessary, bringing the Oscars back in touch with the average film-goer. Whereas, others are suggesting these changes are the product of a panicked organisation, responding to years of declining viewership. Positive or negative, these changes to the Oscars will have a lasting effect on both the awards ceremony and the film industry.
For almost everybody interested, the announcement of a new achievement in popular film is the focal point of these changes. On the outlook, this is an attempt to reassure the viewers that there is a place for popular film at the Oscars following the snubbing of pictures like Wonder Woman, IT, and Deadpool. Considering the average viewer is more likely to have seen these films rather than, let’s say Phantom Thread, this could make for a return to regular viewing numbers come next awards season.
The Academy made similar changes after The Dark Knight was not nominated for the highly coveted best picture, raising the amount of nominations from 5 to 10 from then on. However, this did not lead to an increase of popular films winning the best picture award, with only The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and Titanic being best picture winners (all way before the change funnily enough). So how will this new popular film category lead to more best picture Oscars if this didn’t?
The introduction of a new category also occurred when the Academy introduced the Best Animated Feature from 2002 onwards. Beauty and the Beast in 1992 had been the only been animated film nominated for Best Picture up until that point. Since then, only Up and Toy Story 3 have received nominations. Based on this example, the introduction of a new category is simply a plaster being slapped on a bullet wound, not tackling the deeper issues. A fairer and more diverse set of nominations is seemingly what most critics are asking for.
There is, however, a positive way to view this new category. For one, it serves as recognition of the strides that superhero films, amongst others, have made towards creating critically and commercially well-received pictures. Furthermore, the possibility of winning an Oscar gives other studios the imperative to create artistically driven films to the delight of both their audiences and their critics. Wink wink Warner Bros.
Aside from the new popular film category, the change to the airtime is concerning, meaning some awards will be presented during the adverts. For obvious reasons, it isn’t going to be the actor awards which get pushed to the advert breaks, it’s going to be the technical categories who already receive a lack of prioritisation. This could put off people who are interested in those whose work is strictly behind the scenes and adds to the real magic of cinema.
Although It’s hard to make concrete judgements on the impact of these changes as full details haven’t been released, they are worrying for one clear reason. The award for a popular film is the huge box office returns it receives, it does not also need an Oscar. On the other hand, the classic Oscar-bait film is quite simply based on its attempt to get an Oscar. When a popular film also wins an Oscar, the spectacular nature of this is something to be excited about. On top of this, a great part of watching the Oscars is being introduced to an amazing smaller film that isn’t as widely advertised as the latest superhero adventure.
Overall, the changes will most likely lead to an immediate response in the next year, meaning improved viewer numbers. However, these changes seem unnecessary. The Oscars are one of the longest standing traditions of Hollywood. Its big, bold and god damn glamorous, when we critique the nominations, we’re simply asking for fairer nominations. We didn’t ask for a new category, we wanted a more diverse selection of films. The first steps towards introducing this already happened earlier in the year when the Academy invited 928 new members aiming to improve exactly that.
For now, we’ll have to wait and see the full detail on the new category, what sort of films will be included, what will be excluded and how they will be received.