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The stars come out for Oscars
Get a bucket of popcorn and watch as the best movies of the year are celebrated tonight at the Academy Awards (8:30, ABC). Leonardo DiCaprio, left, is a favorite to win for “The Revenant,” but much of the attention may be on the lack of diversity among nominees. Read more about tonight’s awards on page
Are the Oscars an awards show or a social problem?
The furor over no acting nominees of color, for a second year in a row, has prompted soul-searching about the voting and the composition of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The controversy could enliven host Chris Rock’s monologue when the telecast starts at 8:30 tonight on ABC.
But looking to the Academy Awards as an agent of social change seems foolhardy. The prizes unfold long after filmmaking ends.
“We have to stop pointing fingers and blaming the academy,” director Steven Spielberg told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s the stories that are being told. It’s who’s writing the diversity — it starts on the page.”
There are so many other things to blame the academy for, starting with a telecast dragged down by self-congratulatory hype, strange production numbers and boring speeches. (A thank-you scroll at the screen’s bottom this year may curb list speeches.) If the Oscars can’t do entertainment, they’re unlikely to change the world.
The ceremony can mix the frivolous and serious with erratic results. This year’s show will range from quips (Louis C.K., Tina Fey and Steve Carell will take part) to the In Memoriam section. Diversity will be showcased through such presenters as Morgan Freeman, Whoopi Goldberg and Louis Gossett Jr.
Vice President Joe Biden will introduce Lady Gaga’s performance of best song nominee “Til It Happens to You” from “The Hunting Ground” to bring attention to campus sexual assault.
Rock will be challenged to keep the show lively, because the telecast may be short on suspense. Favorites include Leonardo DiCaprio for “The Revenant,” Brie Larson for “Room” and supporting actor Sylvester Stallone for “Creed.” Prognosticators give supporting actress Alicia Vikander the edge for “The Danish Girl.”
Best picture is more competitive than usual and could go to “Spotlight,” “The Big Short” or “The Revenant,” a slight favorite.
Because the process is so subjective, the notion that there is “a right outcome” should be retired. Because the nominations are so thoroughly analyzed, upsets make for a fun show. Ultimately, the winners become part of a storied list, fodder for trivia contests and targets for critics who say they were undeserving.
Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne has said the Oscar picks need context. “I basically think the Oscars always get it right for the time,” he once told me. “It’s not fair to critique an Oscar winner if you weren’t there at the time. You don’t know what people were going through.”
If you know what they were going through, you realize the academy has a few skeletons in its ritzy closet. This year’s choices will be studied in light of the increased scrutiny.
To ask Oscar to change history is just asking too much of a prize with a curious history of its own. To think the award can change history puts too much stock in an award, and that is a problem. It makes the quest for Oscar even weirder.