WE TAKE PART IN VIEWING THIS MOSTLY FARCICAL TELECAST BECAUSE WE HAVE ALWAYS TAKEN PART IN IT.

possibly exist. Instead, the only achievement of those recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will have been to put forth a performance that marks an appropriate number of boxes on a checklist of qualifications that merely describe the spirit of an Oscarworthy performance: portray a character that overcomes great obstacles on their path toward redemption; wear identity-altering prosthetics and makeup; be Denzel Washington or Meryl Streep; write a script from the perspective of the most easily defensiblepositiononacurrentsocial issue; and line up a scene of climactic importance with the “braaam” sound in a swelling score.

Film and its criticism are so accessible now that the cultural authority once wielded by the Academy Awards has been rendered tenuous at best. Yet, the ceremony maintains an air of recognition for high art. What it actually does is aggrandize the most maudlin movies and the portrayals within them: films thatfightfordecisionsratherthan knockouts. As such, it’s neither all that important as an example of artistic appreciation nor fun as a schlocky cultural relic. It exists between the trenches, unreachable to a modern audience.

If there is any value to the event, any reason to why somanywillwatch on Sunday, it’s that this will be its 90th incarnation. We take part in viewing this mostly farcical telecast because we’ve always takenpartinit.

One of the fondest memories I possess of my television-denying grandmother is her babysitting me on an Oscars night many years ago. We drank Canada Dry Ginger Ale and ate mini pizza bagels purchased from the frozen food section, as a movie I probably wouldn’t be allowed to watch for another five years won Best Picture. The beauty of that recollection is that, at the time, I appreciated the soda and snacks for whattheywere–notthechampagne andhorsd’oeuvrestheymighthave been intended to represent.

It was a night of low culture all the way. And it was perfect as such, without straining to be anything more. However, I’m sure my grandmother would still want us all to believethatshedidn’tservefrozen foods or let me drink sugary pop too often – and certainly never in frontofthetelevision.