Eight awards removed from Oscars ceremony
The Oscars will “prioritise the television audience,” by culling eight awards from the live ceremony, instead presenting them off-air.
The Oscars continue to baffle both film fans and Academy members alike by sending mixed messages about what the ceremony wants to be. This morning, it was announced that eight awards will be presented off-air in an attempt to make the ceremony shorter and more digestible for audiences.
It’s another example of how the Oscars are struggling to make up its mind about what it wants to be. Is it a Pulitzer-prize-esque ceremony that is dedicated to upholding the prestige of cinema? Or, is it a populist ceremony that wants to appeal to all movie fans and return to its former glory?
If it’s the former, removing categories that celebrate the making of movies, rather than just the end products, is certainly no way to go about it. And, if it’s the latter, a better job must be done to include a broader array of popular films, rather than looking down on them.
The move has already raised eyebrows from critics, commentators and it risks infuriating some Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members over a perceived slight to the categories that will no longer be announced live.
The awards for film editing, production design, sound, make-up and hairstyling, original score and the three short film awards – documentary, live action and animated – will be presented at the ceremony on March 27 before the broadcast at the Dolby Theatre. The acceptance speeches will be edited into the three-hour show, with David Rubin, president of the academy, promising the winners would still get their “Oscar moment”.
Producers have been scrambling to make the broadcast more attractive after last year’s Oscars suffered record low ratings, leaving the ABC network “dismayed”.
A similar idea was abandoned in 2019 after a backlash from filmmakers who said that the affected categories were being disrespected.
Critics argue that the disciplines being pre-recorded are integral to the filmmaking process.
Highlights from the year in make-up and hairstyling include Jared Leto being transformed into a balding, portly fashion heir in House of Gucci, Emma Stone morphing into the Disney icon in Cruella and Jessica Chastain’s role as a televangelist in The Eyes of Tammy Faye.
Fans used the hashtag “PresentAll23” to express their frustration. One tweeted: “The Oscars have always been long and that didn’t stop audiences.”
Another wrote: “When the [Oscars] care more about ratings than the meaning of the award, there is a problem.”
In a letter to The Hollywood Reporter, Rubin said that the goal was to find the right balance between a rewarding and thrilling format. They would assess the new show afterwards, he added.
Rubin also confirmed the winner of best picture would be the final award announced, reversing a decision last year to end on best actor.
For all their tinkering, The Academy has yet to find the right formula to suit everyone — which is part of the problem. They need to decide what they want the Oscars to be and then stick to their guns. If they get the show right, fans who still care deeply about film will tune in.
In collaboration with The Times.