And the Award Should Go To…

Michael Schulman’s entertaining and lengthy review of Oscar history is a bit late. He suggests that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made a mistake in trying to appeal to Joe Moviegoer through the addition of pseudoawards voted upon by the public.

“The Oscars should be celebrating merit regardless of profitability, and they should be lifting up small movies,” He wrote, instead of “contort[ing] itself in trying to be something it’s not.” Schulman’s book is a great read about how the award served other purposes than simply celebrating artistry.

AMPAS was actually founded to combat not just government censorship (a problem that is growing for this nascent art form), but also negative publicity within the Hollywood movie colony as showbiz scandals such the murder of William Desmond Taylor were rife. Oscars are almost an afterthought. “wedged among” Priorities higher like “tak[ing] aggressive action in meeting outside attacks that are unjust” to end labor problems.

The academy’s early goals included fighting off labor unions, which caused a lot of problems for the institution. Eventually, it fell to Frank Capra—the immigrant success story who saw winning an Academy Award as his ticket into the establishment but feared that the organization would be destroyed if it went to war with the Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild—to break the union-breaking power of the academy once and for all. In 1937, the labor negotiations were officially ended by the academy. “a decade after its conception as Hollywood’s League of Nations, the Academy was now, thanks to Capra, little more than the body that gave out statuettes.”

Schulman describes some of the stories surrounding those tiny statues. Schulman includes the struggle in 1935 to obtain Bette Davis an award for her work. Of Human BondageThe performance, which had received rave reviews but was unable to be honoured due to studio bickering as well as the manipulations of producers who wanted to nominate their stars. After a massive protest by the academy’s award committee, they announced that write-ins would be allowed. This led to intrigue in trade rags. Many of us have heard whispers regarding the illegitimacy, or inability to accept Andrea Riseborough’s nomination. To Leslie—a grassroots effort that seemingly came out of nowhere—can sympathize with the wags of the 1930s.

Campaigning can be a difficult question. This section was the best. It covered Harvey Weinstein’s rise to prominence and the ugly rivalry between Miramax SKG (DreamWorks SKG) during 1999. It’s one of those races which escaped Los Angeles’ gravity and became newsworthy for many people, especially after the 1999 season. Shakespeare in Love The world was shocked by the defeat of The Private Ryan Savings The best category for pictures

Miramax, Weinstein, and Miramax spent many years perfecting the Oscar game plans. You can say what you like about Weinstein”sure, he’s a monstrous sexual deviant who deserves to spend the rest of his life in prison, though aside from that…”However, he knew that Oscars were not about who or what. “should” It has nothing to do with the type of story you can craft. His favorite trick was wrapping up his award-season movies in some kind of social or political cause. Daniel Day-Lewis was able to screen the movie at Capitol Hill because of this. My Left Foot During the American with Disabilities Act debate.

This is also why Weinstein donated so generously to Democratic politicians. It was the ability to summon big guns to key moments. You can also see the other side to this phrase “Washington is Hollywood for ugly people” It is believed that the Oscars serve as presidential races in Hollywood. Weinstein had to work out how to get there. Sling Blade‘s Arkansas-born-and-bred Billy Bob Thornton into an awards-winning savant, who better to get on the horn than another Billy boy?

“I was so appalled that the president of the United States would spend half an hour with us on the phone,” Schulman was informed by Miramax employees. Weinstein asked Bill Clinton, then president of the United States, for some tips on how to make the Arkansan more appealing to Hollywood. “I lost all respect for him well before Monica Lewinsky, because I could see how much access the Clintons were giving Harvey.”

A good politician will know that it is not enough to tell a great story or have a strong message. You must also have an effective way to connect with your target audience. One congressman from Missouri speaks to a different population than one representing the Bronx. Schulman’s book reveals that changing demographics in the academy is an ongoing story. We’ve seen it most recently in the aftermath of the #OscarsSoWhite campaign, during which activists argued that the Academy Awards—one year removed from awarding 12 years as an Slave best picture—was irreparably racist because there were zero black nominees in the acting categories in 2015 or 2016.

The diversity initiative was in full swing. Membership rolls were expanded to include younger and more diverse voting bodies. Older members were also not so politely ignored. Outrage ensued, open letters were written, angry campaigns were initiated… but all of this has happened before, and it will, likely, all happen again. Gregory Peck was the president of AMPAS in 1967. He had to face declining TV viewers and a slate that was only described as stodgy. Two years later—after outrage, letters, and campaigns—Peck did what he thought needed to be done with the aid of the then-starlet Candice Bergen to freshen up the rolls.

Attracting audiences is only half of the battle. The movies are not enough. However, the show must offer entertainment value. “entertainment” “value” They can be a little tricky. Schulman says that 1989’s first number featuring Rob Lowe and Snow White was overblown. It is more an inevitable result of an era filled with excesses than anything. People forget that the proceedings of 1989 featured Robocop engaging in a shootout against PeeWee Herman.

The show’s fate is still a topic of debate, at least partly because blockbuster hit movies like “The Big Bang Theory” are now available. The Godfather, Titanic, BraveheartAnd Forrest Gump They have virtually no chance of winning. This is due to a variety of reasons. First, Hollywood has abandoned movies that are mid-budget for adults. Second, streaming services have bought up high-profile directors and provided them with budgets beyond what traditional studios can afford. Thirdly modern blockbusters place more emphasis on entertainment than storytelling. Green Book, the last movie to win best picture that comfortably fits in this category, are seen as passé, old-fashioned, the modern equivalent of Oliver!

So, we return to the original question: What are the Oscars? Should Be in the business rewarding. However, there may be an additional question beneath that question. Oscar Wars Documents with style a time when movies were the largest element of mass media. This was the peak of American monoculture. The Oscars are a symbol of what happens when film is subordinated in streaming and to prestige TV and to TikTok or YouTube. The monoculture has been irreparably destroyed. The industry splits between “big and dumb and profitable” “small and unwatched but inarguably artistically superior”?

The answer is “What?” Should be rewarded—what is only really It is worth it rewarding—continues to drift toward “movies seen by few and judged to be excellent by even fewer,” The ceremony is no longer relevant to cinephiles.

Our number seems to be decreasing year by year.

Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood, Gold, Sweat, and Tears
Michael Schulman
HarperCollins, 608 pp., $35

Sonny Bunch is the culture editor for The Bulwark, Podcast hosting site Across the Movie Aisle  The Bulwark Goes to HollywoodThe following is an example of a contributing columnist At the Washington Post.