Oscar’s bad example

It’s time for the 2020 Oscars. The nominees were released on Jan. 13 with great fanfare — for anyone who cares enough to be watching. On Feb. 9 the 92nd Oscars will be held at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, televised globally to more than 225 countries. Once again the world will see what the American based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences thinks the best films, performances and technical achievements are in film for the past year. Anyone left watching the show long enough will, anyway.

The recent history of the Academy Awards broadcast is not an encouraging one. Forbes reported that the 2019 Oscars had a 29.6 million viewer audience with a 7.7 rating among the key demographic of adults age 18 to 49, a slight increase over the all-time lowest ratings in 2018. There was a 3.1 million viewer increase between the 90th and 91st ceremonies, breaking a steady four-year streak of declining ratings. 2019 was the second least-watched Oscar broadcast ever. Nielsen reported that 2018 television audience was the lowest in modern history, about 26.5 million viewers, down 20 percent from 2017’s 32.9 million. In fact, it has not reached the 46.3 million high since 2000. Why aren’t people watching? Isn’t this supposed to be the pinnacle of success in the arts and sciences award season? Of interest to everyone?

Let’s find out. Here’s a quiz. Which film won Best Picture in 2018? “The Shape of Water” (making $195.2 million gross dollars). Rotten Tomatoes, a popular review aggregator, rated it 8.4 points out of 10, with a 92 percent approval rating, based on 396 separate reviews. That’s very good. Did you see it? Do you remember it? Here’s an easier question. Which film won Best Picture in 2019? “Green Book.” Green what? It made more than $300 million worldwide, so why do so few remember it? Money talks, doesn’t it?

The traditional way to determine market trends is by sales, or “box office gross revenue.” Movie producers and theatrical exhibitors (collectively “Hollywood”) attract viewers by publicizing how much money a movie earns at the box office. These numbers can look impressive, but can misleading due to ticket price inflation. The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) reported that the average box office ticket price increased from $.36 in 1948 to $9.11 in 2018, an increase of more than 2,430 percent. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased almost 942 percent during the same period. Therefore, movie ticket prices increased more than 21⁄2 times more than the CPI. The only real way to determine box office sales value is with reported dollars adjusted for inflation. Using inflation adjusted numbers, Box Office Mojo reported the top highest growing films of all time are “Gone with the Wind” (1939), “Star Wars” (1977), “The

Sound of Music” (1965), “ET” (1982), and “Titanic” (1997). Notice the years of release. “Blockbusters” of today are not in the same league as blockbusters of yesteryear. To be fair, there are more opportunities to see movies now (streaming services, DVD and Blu Ray discs, and sadly, pirated content).

So what is wrong with the Oscars viewership? The real question may be what is wrong with Hollywood. Maybe it’s the people in it. While using their popularity and stature as a platform for broadcasting personal opinions and political agendas, Hollywood folks have distanced themselves from mainstream Americans. Once held as a sophisticated, classy society of artistic talent and endeavors, “stars” today are often seen by the average person as rich, self-aggrandizing sycophants with wild political views who actually may believe what they say. And want everyone to do what they say. But do they set an example?

No women were nominated for Best Director this year. Only one woman won, Kathryn Bigelow for 2009’s “The Hurt Locker.” African American Best Directors? Six nominations in Oscar history — zero wins. For a center of diverse verbiage, Hollywood sure seems lacking actual diversity. There is, however, one African American couple nominated in 2020, Barack and Michelle Obama for their documentary film “American Factory.” Yet, how many people have seen it?

Another curiosity are the Oscar’s actress awards. Actresses today call themselves “actors” because they want the same level of perceived “respect” male actors get. Yet they don’t want to compete with male actors for acting Oscars so they cling to their “actress” category. There is no “Female Best Director and “Male Best Director, though. Interesting, isn’t it? A bit of hypocrisy on display?

Not helping Oscars status are all the other “awards.” The Golden Globes, film festivals at Sundance (Utah), Cannes (France), Locarno (Italy), People’s Choice Awards, National Board of Review, Screen Actors Guild, more than 20 in total! And this is just for theatrical films, there are even more for music, theater and television. How much is enough? Is the objective to have enough award shows so that everyone can win an award?

Hollywood is so nervous a “Most Popular Film” award was proposed. In fact, this entire affair is a popularity contest. In reality, it’s all about marketing the movies. The first Academy Awards Ceremony in 1929 was held to do just that, and was over

Actresses today call themselves “actors” because they want the same level of perceived “respect” male actors get. Yet they don’t want to compete with male actors for acting Oscars so they cling to their “actress” category. There is no “Female Best Director and “Male Best Director, though. Interesting, isn’t it? A bit of hypocrisy on display?

in 15 minutes.

That’s about what it’s worth.