It’s that time of year again, when the red carpet is rolled out and Hollywood’s finest are rounded up into a dimly-lit auditorium for some televised back-slapping. The Academy Awards started out as a way to present awards for artistic and technical merit to members of the film industry. Now, it has become an extremely long, overly-scripted, contrived, predictable show, where winners have a captive audience to whom they can spout their opinion on everything from climate change to political ideology. So, what went wrong over the past 95 years? First off, the Oscars have an incredible knack for getting it wrong. The most deserving nominees seldom win, and the most inventive movies of the year typically get no nominations at all. Another big problem with the Academy Awards is the length. The first Oscar ceremony in 1929 lasted a mere 15 minutes. At the end of a private black-tie banquet, leading man Douglas Fairbanks announced the first ever winners of the golden statuettes. Today, it’s so bloated with performances, long-winded speeches, and nonsensical monologues that you’re lucky if you can stay awake for the 3½ hours it drones on. Over the years, the Oscars have also included scandals and feuds, like the slap heard ‘round the world at the 2023 Oscars, when Will Smith went on the stage and smacked presenter Chris rock. In the end, it all comes down to a combination of viewers being tired of watching narcissistic actors with over-inflated egos pat themselves on the back and having to listen to people who have no political experience expound on what’s good for this country. Will the ratings be as low this year as they have been for the past few years? Chances are, the only thing viewers really watched was the Red Carpet coverage.
