The Oscars Effect
I am a typical media studies student. Admittedly, it’s been years since I took an exam on the subject but I still analyse and shout about it with the same annoying vigour that causes the students on the science courses to roll their eyes. I became an official student of media studies at GCSE level and, until that point, I had never given much thought to the Oscars other than the fabulous fashion. However, when I decided to pursue the subject at A Level (which, in turn, led to me doing a degree course in it), I felt that it was time I took an active interest in the nominees or else I would never be taken seriously in the field.
I have loved film ever since I was a child but was acutely aware that most of the films I enjoyed were not considered high-brow enough to class myself as a cinephile. I’ve always been passionate about storytelling and what is or isn’t presented on screen, whether I realised it or not, and so it seemed natural to turn to the Oscars for a cinematic education.
But how many of these films did I watch because I had a genuine interest in them and how many were because a selected group of people classed them as the best of the bunch that year? I recently looked back at how many films I watched in the past thirteen years were heavily influenced by their Oscar buzz and was surprised to find that there were twenty-six. I know I had an interest in their story, director or actors, however, I can’t say that I elected to watch the films based purely on those reasons.
In that vein, I also conducted a straw poll of my friends, all of whom have a love for cinema, as to whether the Oscars influenced their film choices, and it was almost an equal split with positive and negative responses. Some gave little credence to the awards, believing that the nominated films are likely to be over hyped or simply preferring to seek out films for themselves, whereas others viewed the Oscars as a reliable guide for high quality films.
One notable film that came out of the conversation was 2019’s Best Picture winner, Parasite, with most people commenting that they wouldn’t have even heard of the film, let alone watched it, if it wasn’t for the Oscars buzz. And with the film taking $501,000 in cinemas the day after it won, it’s hard to argue that the accolade didn’t have an effect on ticket sales. You cannot deny that this is a great way for foreign language films, or any other lesser-known films, to find a new audience and broaden their tastes but, unfortunately, this is a rarity. It’s fairly easy to predict which films will catch the eye of the panel each year; traumatised male lead? A nomination for you. Historical dramatization? That’s going straight in the Oscar basket. Hollywood biopic? Well, it would be rude not to.
Anyone with an interest in cinema and its awards will know that the Academy panel is predominantly made up of white males, despite a shift this year to diversify its judges. And with no guarantee that everyone in the Academy has watched that year’s submissions, if we choose to use the Oscars as a film bible, we’re effectively being told to watch films as recommended by a group of people who are unlikely to bare any resemblance to our lives, experiences or aspirations. And why do we watch films? To see the human condition in all its forms reflected to us on screen. Regardless of genre, we want to relate to the stories we see, or learn something from them.
This begs the question why we have awards in the first place. A discussion Andrew Scott (the Hot Priest) had with journalist Elizabeth Day on her podcast ‘How to Fail’ has stuck with me ever since I listened to it and, although he discusses awards from an actor’s perspective, he does raise interesting questions about how we determine which art is ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ He says: “You do see that it’s filtered through whoever that person, whoever that panel is on an awards jury, or whoever the journalist is […] of course it has to be filtered through but that’s not the way they’re viewed. Sometimes I think the old saying of ‘no prizes, no punishments’ is a really interesting one and I do think that the way we look at the way art is judged, could be a bit more interesting.”
When you take a moment to reflect, it does seem strange that we place art, which is famously subjective, into categories and judge how it should be perceived. Global awards such as the Oscars send a message to billions of people that a certain type of film is the pinnacle of the art form and, therefore, if you like that film (or pretend to like that film) you must know your onions and be a qualified Film Buff. Even now, as a supposedly fully grown adult who is certain of my tastes, I still feel that I’m not quite the right person to declare themselves a film fan. Even though I am a fan of films.
The entertainment provided by films is echoed in the pageant of the Oscars; the rumours, the build-up, the reveal and then the analysis is all part of the narrative that we love as film fanatics. We love a story and if there’s a few surprises along the way, we’ll probably love it even more. I know I’ll continue to follow the Oscars and my film choices will undoubtedly be affected by what it presents each year, but I also know that I will be watching with heavy cynicism, too. The world of cinema is changing, albeit slowly, and so I can only hope that one day a female-led, sci-fi, comedy, action mashup is crowned Best Picture and I can graduate from media studies student/film enthusiast to a certified cinephile.
Written by Ellie Rees
Ellie Rees is a Cardiff based writer who currently works in marketing. When there isn't a pandemic on she loves swing dancing, heading to the cinema as much as possible and a gin or two with her friends. Her biggest dream is to see a published book of her's on the shelves of Waterstones Cardiff one day.