We lose something when the Oscars don’t matter anymore
In 1998, 55.25 million people watched “Titanic” win the Academy Award for Best Picture, as my friends and I gorged on pizza and snacks in front of our friend J’s giant television screen.
Some of us found ourselves disappointed that “The Full Monty” hadn’t won. We were teenagers in Texas, and somehow a story about working class British male strippers had captivated our hearts.
Oscar-watching parties used to be fashionable, but they aren’t a staple of people’s spring calendars anymore — because we don’t have a mainstream culture anymore.
No more mainstream
In 2019, a writer in The Guardian declared that “streaming has killed the mainstream,” and popular culture has only become more niche and fractured since then. We have too many options, and real water-cooler-worthy things are few and far between.
Which is to say: I did not watch the Oscars this year. Instead, I spent the evening watching one of the nominated films, “Poor Things,” luxuriating in the freedom our once-a-week babysitter offers.
Part of the problem is that the Oscars are too long, too boring, too afraid to take any risks or provoke the status quo. I’ve read enough about Oscar campaigns to know how political and meaningless wins really are.
Only rarely is anyone rightfully rewarded for their acting. More often than not the awards feel like public relations campaigns centered around a narrative about who is or isn’t more deserving.
But it’s not just that the awards don’t mean much — it’s that there are also a million other things on. There is no show right now that everyone is watching, except perhaps for the slow demise of our democracy. And even then, a lot of people prefer to check out and rewatch an early season of “Love is Blind” rather than engage with politics.
Football and the Olympics, which is to say sports, remain a solid option for awkward small chat with strangers. The Super Bowl continues to hold onto strong ratings.
Let’s be honest: The Oscars were always a bit strange — millions of people eavesdropping on the beautiful and glamorous, congratulating themselves on the subtle differences in their craft. We watched for the clothes and the scandals, the gossip and the entitlement.
Now, all that is available all the time, on demand. Social media and influencers have shortened the distance between the consumer and the stars whose lives are consumed. We don’t need to watch the Oscars to get content that’s Oscar-worthy.
What we lost
Still — those of us that remember the old days of watch parties know that something has been lost. Perhaps that is age and nostalgia speaking (is missing the “good old days” not a marker of both?), but I really do think there was something fun about staying up late and getting to have feelings about whether or not “Good Will Hunting” should have taken the trophy instead.
A friend tells me that we cared about frivolous things like the Oscars because things were relatively okay back in 1998. Right now, celebrating people wearing clothes valued higher than many people’s annual paychecks feels like discussing the runway on a sinking ship.
But also, maybe we weren’t always meant to be entertained by the same things? A psychologist tells me that niche culture has allowed people to feel included, even if their likes fall outside of mainstream tastes.
“Dismantling mainstream culture isn’t the worst,” she tells me. “It’s good that people can find their tribe. Some people are obsessed with ‘House Hunters,’ and form communities around that. Look at Reddit — the watercooler has moved.”
And while I do not disagree with her, I also see the loss. I know very well how it feels to be the odd man out, to like a weird band or genre of music that my friends do not. But I also love being able to talk about a shared mainstream culture, knowing that the people I know care about it too.
Now, more often than not, I’ll ask a friend about what she’s watching and find that we’re on different paths through the algorithm. By the time I finish “Fargo,” she’ll want someone to talk about “Shogun.”
Goodbye, Oscars
The production team behind the Academy Awards has spent the last few years figuring out how to get people like me back. The numbers aren’t out yet, but if the broadcast breaks 20 million, they’ll be lucky — and grateful. (Last year’s was under 19 million, down from 2014’s almost 44 million.)
Perhaps it’s my age, or the lack of a peer group pressuring me to stay on top of things, but I’m probably not coming back. I’m content to read a summary the next day and text a couple of my high school friends — when I know they’re awake.