After this year’s Oscars controversy, film academy will present all 23 categories live on Sunday. It’s something we don’t see all that often. After all, we get two big awards shows over the course of the year, the Super Bowl and the Oscars.
However, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences has made a few changes, mostly in the form of new awards. These changes are a direct result of the Academy’s recent controversy; the same ones that prompted the Academy to take an extremely hard stance on what was once a relatively harmless comment.
Let me say up front, this doesn’t look like it’s going to be an easy year for the Academy. And no offense to those of you who are voting for Best Picture, but I’m not sure any of the films you named will be Oscar-worthy until next year anyway.
The Academy and the critics have long since turned their backs on any kind of Oscar discussion—the Academy has said in the past that they’re “not going to discuss the Oscars” (The Academy will debate whether or not a film should win on stage, but only in private).
Yet, this year, perhaps something has changed.
You know how we know it’s going to be an awards season of controversy? Let’s go back to the beginning.
In 1975, the Academy was rocked by widespread protests of Harvey Weinstein’s Oscars acceptance speech. This time around, the Academy is being rocked by a controversy within the membership of the guild that’s been brewing for almost two years.
Last year was not an easy year for the Academy. The Oscars brought out some very polarizing opinions.
From the outside, the Academy has been seen as having problems when it comes to the way they present the Academy Awards. This year, the Academy is hoping to solve some of these problems.
It’s a simple enough idea, really. The Academy has long been accused, and rightly so, of awarding trophies to their favorites—which, according to every critic that I’ve spoken to over the past two years, makes absolutely no sense.
Yet, all Oscar pundits have to agree on is who the top 10 winners are. And it doesn’t take a genius to figure out which films people love the most.
That’s right, I just made that up. (I
