For the First Time in Years I Did Not Watch the Oscars

Last night was the first time I did not watch the Academy Awards ceremony in decades. It had been a yearly ritual for my best friend Brian and I. After he died, I would exchange tweets with my dearest Vanessa Marquez while the ceremony aired live. I have continued watching the Academy Awards the past few years primarily out of fond memories of those times. Unfortunately, the Academy has been skating on thin ice with me for some time. Over the years they have snubbed many major stars in the on-air In Memoriam, from Andy Griffith in 2013 to Robert Vaughn in 2017. In 2019 they committed the greatest slight they could ever possibly have done to me by omitting my dearest Vanessa from the In Memoriam, despite the fact that a petition to include her had thousands of signatures. This year was the final straw. The American Broadcasting Company, better known as ABC, pressured the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences to cut eight categories from the live ceremony. Worse yet, the Academy acquiesced to ABC rather than telling the network where to go. For me that was enough.

The categories cut from the live ceremony were Sound, Film Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Original Score, Production Design, Documentary Short, Animated Short, and Live Action Short. These awards were given out before the show, with the award presentations and acceptance speeches edited and then aired during the live ceremony. As a film buff I am interested in every aspect of filmmaking. Editors, makeup artists, and production designers number among my heroes. I am also interested in short subjects as well as feature films. I then want so see the craft awards and the awards for the sorts given out at the live ceremony. The Academy's decision to cut these categories from the live ceremony then angered me. They should have told ABC to go to Hell.

Indeed, in pressuring the Academy to cut these categories from the live ceremony, ABC made their contempt for film buffs clear. The Oscars are not simply a chance for the film industry to celebrate their achievements. It is a chance for film buffs to celebrate the cinema and the history of the cinema. We not only want to know what film won Best Picture or who won Best Actor, we want to know who won Best Film Editing and what won Best Animated Short. Quite simply, we want to see every single Oscar given out at the live ceremony, not film of them being given out before the show, even if it takes four hours.

Of course, the bitter irony is that in pressuring the Academy to cut the eight categories from the live ceremonies, ABC probably lost a good section of the core audience for the Oscars, all in pursuit of an audience who not only doesn't care about the Oscars, but doesn't care about movies either. I know I was not the only devoted film buff who did not watch the Academy Awards ceremony last night. I know of several others as well. In fact, I have to wonder how many people did not watch it. I can't be certain, but I don't recall the Oscars trending on Twitter last night, other than a certain incident I won't discuss here. It usually does.

As if cutting eight categories from the live ceremony last night was not enough, last night's In Memoriam may well have been the worst I have ever seen. The In Memoriam segment featured dancers and upbeat songs hardly suitable for a memorial. I love the song "Spirit in the Sky," but I really do not want to hear it played during what should be a solemn event. Indeed, in some ways I found the whole In Memoriam segment disrespectful, even though I don't think that was the intention at all. What was disrespectful about this year's on air In Memoriam were the omissions of beloved individuals. Ed Asner may have been best known for his work in television, but he made over eighty movies and was a two time president of the Screen Actors Guild as well. They also omitted Michael Nesmith (who produced movies as well as made music), Willie Garson, Bob Saget, and Norm MacDonald. While omitting these individuals, they made sure to include talent managers and agents that most Academy members and certainly the audience probably haven't heard of.

Fortunately, not everything last night at the Oscars was a catastrophe. There was a touching moment between Lady Gaga and Liza Minnelli when they presented the Oscar for Best Picture. Miss Minnelli had viral encephalitis and was having some difficulty, but Lady Gaga was entirely supportive of the legend. Once I heard about it today, I had to check out the video.

There were also several historic wins. Jane Campion became only the third woman to win the Oscar for Best Director. Troy Kostur became the first deaf man to win an acting award when he won Best Supporting Actor for Coda. Ariana DeBose became the first Afro-Latina and the first queer person of colour to win an acting award when she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for West Side Story (2021). Her win also made her and Rita Moreno the first pair of actresses to win the Best Supporting Actress for the same role in different movies.

With regards to the Academy Awards, ABC has become so focused on ratings that they have lost sight of the whole purpose of the Oscars. They have ignored the fact that the Academy Awards are not simply a chance for the film industry to celebrate their achievements, but for film buffs to celebrate the cinema. In doing so they run the risk of losing the one group of people who were guaranteed to watch the Oscars every single year. If ABC wants the Academy Awards ceremony's ratings to improve, they should leave the Academy alone and let the Academy return the Oscars to their former glory. I think I can speak for most film buffs when I say that we don't care if it takes four hours.