As a film enthusiast, I have always looked forward to Oscar Sunday. The dresses, the celebrities, the dance numbers, the inside jokes you shared with all of Hollywood— to me it never gets old. It rarely matters how many of the nominated films I have seen, or how many of the actors I know— I always watch the Oscars out of adoration for Hollywood and the insane multifaceted talent of the cast and crews.
However, I have noticed in the past few years the talk amongst my peers about the Oscars have dwindled at a slower rate than Donald Trump’s popularity (but not by much). Last week I asked a friend of mine, a film major, if he had any plans for the Oscars. He responded that he wasn’t planning on watching it at all.
Shocked, I asked around my friend group (the majority of which are film majors) and most responded with a variation of how they weren’t going to watch the Oscars either.
This disturbs me to no end— if Hollywood can’t get film majors to watch the Oscars, how are they going to get the rest of America to watch?
Unfortunately, it seems as if the Oscars are dying.
Instead of lamenting about how millennials have no respect or appreciation for culture, I’m here to introduce a different approach. Solving the actual problem.
So: how are we going to save the Oscars? Hollywood has tried to keep the Oscars relevant by having popular comedians host each year. Yes, that works (especially when it’s Ellen Degeneres), yet only a bit.
To fix the issue, we have to examine it first— why are the Oscars dying?
Mainly because Hollywood has lost touch with most people. The lack of diversity among nominees is testament to that. Last year, the Oscars were boycotted due to this issue, yet it only dipped viewership by about 2% from the previous year.
So yes, diversity is a major problem that must be resolved by hiring, casting, and nominating more people of color— but I don’t think that it’s the sole reason.
In fact, another reason is because movie attendance has dropped as well. If people aren't watching the movies that are nominated, why would they bother watching the Oscars?
The answer is they don’t. Several reasons why people have stopped attending movie theaters include: steep ticket prices, Netflix, That Annoying Person Who Won’t Stop Talking In The Theatre™, and my favorite reason: Hollywood keeps on funding B.S sequels instead of creative indie films.
All in all, Hollywood needs to get it’s act together. Audiences want more variety of talent and stories. They’re tired of films that can easily be summed up in two sentences that consist of parallels to other movies.
What do we want? Diversity. When do we want it? Now.
