Have you ever wonder why so few of the films you enjoy win Oscar Awards? From the treatment of superhero mega hits such as the Avengers or the Dark Knight to legendary movies such as Pulp Fiction, we can clearly see that Oscar snubs are both real and have been going on for years.
Perhaps this is the reason why fewer and fewer people tune in to watch Hollywood’s most prestigious movie awards. It’s gotten to the point where there’s a running joke about how certain movies certain notable characteristics have come to be called ‘Oscar bait’ movies. If it’s about racism or the movie business or the Holocaust, you can be sure they’d at least get a mention in the proceedings.
So imagine the surprise of us ordinary people when the Academy (the people who choose what gets the awards) met and decided to add a new category to the long-running awards ceremony. A category by the name of ‘Best Popular Film’.
There are two ways to look at this. So let’s start with the more positive. After all, this does have potentially good consequences for the movie industry and fans as a whole.
On the positive side, this new category, which aims to show awards-recognition to popular films that audiences enjoy could see the countless scores of beloved films finally get some official recognition at the Academy level. It could go a long way towards legitimizing these films in the eyes of critics and more importantly, finally give the hardworking cast and crew some much deserved recognition on the grand stage.
However, if one were more cynical, they might feel that the Oscars are a meaningless award given to Hollywood by Hollywood that often ignores true achievements in film, in favour of only choosing similar movies that appeal to a very narrow spectrum of taste. Indeed, looking at all the fantastic movies that have been snubbed over the years for movies that share many of the same characteristics, it is not hard to feel like these awards are biased at best, farcical at worst.
The fact that this new category also came when the ratings for the awards show were at a historically low point is also quite telling. According to Indie Wire, this year’s Oscars did terribly in the ratings, perhaps indicating that they may have well and truly lost touch with the average moviegoer.
Regardless, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for the awards ceremony. Will this new category be enough for us normal people to finally care about the Oscars? Or is it just the sign of an increasingly desperate Academy willing to try anything to catch our attention? Only time will tell.
In the meantime, what do you think, dear reader? Now that Avengers: Infinity War stands a chance to win an Oscar, would you tune in? Or did they lose you years ago after denying Leonardo DiCaprio too many deserving awards?
Header Image Source: Digital Spy
