Like the movies, the Oscar star is fading
Every year, Hollywood celebrates itself in a long awards season. After the Golden Globes, the British Academy Film Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards, it’s pretty clear which films and actors will earn the film industry’s most prestigious prizes.
Even today, winning an Oscar can validate, revitalize or launch a career. For the average viewer, however, they offer less and less. At its peak in 1998, the Oscars attracted almost 60 million viewers. Since then, however, ratings have steadily declined. In the last two years, fewer than 20 million people have tuned in, even after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock.
This year’s ratings have not yet been released, but anxiety over declining viewership has generated more headlines than ever. Even exciting wins for Ke Huy Quan, Michelle Yeoh and the remaining cast and crew of “Everything Everywhere All At Once” have not altered the conversation. In fact, the wins for Ms. Yeoh and an actor like Brendan Fraser seem more rooted more in correcting long-overdue sleights than in honoring their exceptional performances.
As streaming services replace theaters, the overwhelming number of options, platforms and outlets has made traditional movies a niche viewing experience. Likewise, the stars are shrinking.
In the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, movies were the only game in town, without even television to compete against. The glamorous movies of the 1930s provided an escape for millions of Americans struggling through the Great Depression.
Back then, the stars were truly larger-than-life, almost gods: Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, Bette Davis, Rudolph Valentino, Cary Grant, Greta Garbo, Jean Harlow, Marilyn Monroe. Rudolph Valentino’s death in 1926, at the age of 31, sparked a rash of suicides. Nearly 100,000 people lined the streets outside the church. In Hollywood’s so-called Golden Age, movie stars were bigger than presidents.
Through the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, movies finally became more diverse and continued to provide a touchstone for American life. The Oscars were discussed at water coolers around the country. Today, fewer people watch the same shows and films. That means little-watched movies like “To Leslie” and “The Whale” can receive nominations, but it also means that fewer people gather to discuss these films together. A live celebration of excess seems dated and inappropriate when half the country is living, at best, paycheck to paycheck.
For many people, the Oscars are no longer water-cooler worthy, and seem more concerned with identity politics than celebrating the very worthy performances and artistic choices in those films.
The exploding media landscape has increased the distance between what the average viewer watches and what Hollywood celebrates. Not every cultural institution lasts forever, but the glamor and glitz of the Oscars used to be worth our time.
A three-hour-plus annual awards show was once a de facto commitment for cinephiles, but now — well, all the good clips are available online a day later. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will need to offer more if it hopes to keep ratings from continuing to slide.