The year the Oscars had its highest viewership, Titanic won best picture. That was 1998, when the broadcast drew in 55.25 million viewers. “A billion people tuning in to see,” Billy Crystal sang in his opening monologue. A small fraction of a billion, perhaps, but the claim wasn’t as ludicrous then as it would be now.
The Oscars had its worst year ever in 2018, with a measly viewership of 26.5 million. The following year’s host-less Oscars saw a slight bump to 29.6 million — though it’s still a far cry from years past. Host-less again, the Oscars might expect to see a similar bump in numbers this year. But the Academy Awards still hasn’t figured out its real problem.
The circumstances surrounding the decision to go without a host were not intentional — the Oscars disinvited Kevin Hart after he refused to apologize again for old jokes he’d made about gay people — but it appears to have worked out in the award ceremony’s favor. At the very least, that was one less person to lecture viewers about politics.
Having an awards show host isn’t always just wokeness and identity politics, though. Ricky Gervais’s excoriation of Hollywood during the Golden Globes this year made for some pretty good TV. He, however, will not be back in 2021.
Hollywood doesn’t seem to know what viewers want. For those who actually pay attention to awards shows, they want to see their favorite actors strutting around in expensive suits and designer dresses, accepting awards for films viewers saw and enjoyed. They don’t want to be lectured.
Nevertheless, here’s a rundown of what to expect this year: more criticism that all of the best director nominees are men, more criticism that the majority of the best picture nominees are “bro movies,” more criticism that most of the best actor and actress nominees are white, and more hand-wringing over what Joker’s success means about America.
Actors lucky enough to make it on stage with an award are likely to criticize the very body bestowing them with the coveted golden man. Joaquin Phoenix spent his British Academy Film Awards acceptance speech calling for more diversity in film.
There will be plenty of comments such as the one made by actress Issa Rae after she announced the all-male best director nominees: “Congratulations to those men.” And expect to see people mention #OscarsSoWhite, which has come up every year since 2015 when the hashtag was first created.
This isn’t to say that many of the criticisms lodged against the academy aren’t legitimate. But when Phoenix steps on stage to deliver another lecture on climate change, excuse us for dozing off.
To make the incessant pandering to woke causes even worse, Hollywood’s hypocrisy has become even more obvious since the allegations broke against Harvey Weinstein. How many of the attendees and winners can say they didn’t know about his predations? All celebrities feel as though they need to atone for it, but at the very least those who were complicit then could just hush up and stop lecturing everybody now. Hollywood stars aren’t anyone’s moral superiors, and they should stop trying to pretend they are.
At the Oscars this year, viewers and participants will all find a reason to be upset, whether it’s the lack of action on sexual assault in Hollywood, the lack of diversity on screen, or a certain prejudice against films created by streaming services such as Netflix.
As movie lovers have started to do over the past two decades, however, the majority of America will just tune out.
