A Look Back And Ahead
Oscar post-mortem and some speculative fiction
Welp, the Oscars were given out last week, and the Academy in its wisdom gave prostitution enthusiast Sean Baker the same record number of awards in one night as Walt Disney.
I have some thoughts on the direction of the Oscars, but first, here are some things I’ve been reading and watching this week.
Writing Advice
is a fantastic writer, but even if his novels aren’t your thing, his writing advice is top notch. Just one example, this great examination of multiple payoffs occurring in quick succession—
On the flip side, I don’t read much Jane Austen, but I found
’s exploration of Pride and Prejudice to be enlightening—
Sometimes it’s good to just sit back and absorb great writing, as
tells in his piece, Stop Trying to be Productive.
A Dark Future
Personally, I have been trying to be more productive this year. In addition to discussing movies here and Catholicism on my other Substack, I’ve gotten back into fiction writing. I haven’t written nearly as much as I intended to, but at least I did just put out my second short story. It’s near-future science fiction about student loan debt.
Speaking of sci-fi dystopias,
recently published a piece called Google is Now the East India Company of the Internet. And put out a similar article last night: Techno-Feudalism and Digital Serfdom. Both are worth reading and, unlike my story above, very real.Oscar Reflections
Well, the Academy Awards have come and gone, and almost nobody cared. Disney claimed viewership was up 1%, but that’s only because they combined the ratings of over-the-air ABC and streaming Hulu. Not even Hollywood cared, according to
—wrote in his Oscars post-mortem:Ya gotta love the movie business being pretty much an entire no-show during the ad breaks for the industry’s biggest night of the year.
Although the way DISNEY stuffed the ad breaks with promos for its own efforts — there wasn’t much room left over. But even DISNEY only had . . . one movie ad all night, and it was for a DISNEYFOX title.
No Snow White (a movie that opens in 3 weeks), no Thunderbolts, no Lilo & Stitch, no Elio. I guess we should at least be happy that HULU ran an ad promoting the movies?
Then again, when all other studios and streamers accounted for just . . . 30 seconds of ad buys on film’s biggest night in America (thanks LIONSGATE for not making it an entire shutout) — I really have nothing left to say here.
I hate a lot of the suggestions that wannabe know-it-alls offer about how to ‘fix’ Oscar. [ed note: Ouch.] But this is what we know… they put on a very similar show every year. They focus on a comedic host, music performances, and very rarely the movies that are nominated, unless it is one of the highest grossers, because they imagine that this will somehow boost the ratings.
The same formula, over and over.
I actually believe, strongly, that the aloof nature of Oscar is an important part of the brand. So I am not looking to turn it into a game show or something wildly different. The differences I would suggest are about how Oscar is presented to the public.
The raises the question of what the the Academy Awards are actually for. Is it just an industry awards ceremony? Then just rent a ballroom a the Radisson and pass out certificates.
That’s basically what they did for the first 16 years, anyway. Although the 11th Awards were surreptitiously broadcast by reporter George Fischer, who had locked himself in a closet—
By (intentionally) broadcasting the ceremony, the Academy implies they want an audience. Ask a normal person why they don't watch the Oscars, and the two answers will be: A) The show is too long, and B) they don't know any of the movies.
Regarding A, the only thing that could be done (other than removing some categories altogether), is to broadcast on some sort of tape-delay, similar to the 94th ceremony. I’m happy that the smaller awards exist, but do we need to see people walking up to the stage over and over?
As for B, my friend
has a brilliant idea—Academy members must prove they’ve actually seen the movies in theaters before voting. The number of people in the Dolby Theater alone would probably double the box office of Anora.