Perspective: The Oscar gala has a massive problem

The Oscars will soon be a hundred years old and fatigue is already starting to weigh on them a bit. EPA / AOP

The Oscar gala is watched and movie stars are admired all over the world – even in Finland, so it feels incredible that the Oscar show could struggle with audience problems. However, this is the case.

The number of spectators at the gala has been falling for some time from year to year, and last year there was another lousy bottom line. While the 2020 gala was still watched by more than 23 million people in the United States, last year the gala gathered just over 10 million Americans on TV screens.

Exact figures for viewership in other countries are not available (due, among other things, to the fact that the viewership of the broadcast is not recorded everywhere or may differ from one country to another), but The Hollywood Reporter estimates that the gala’s global viewership is in the tens of millions. However, it is the American viewers of the gala who are important to the Film Academy, and the aim is to respond to their movements.

When the gala is produced in Los Angeles, the world’s capital of film and television entertainment, it seems almost incomprehensible how amateurish mistakes producers make year after year. It seems that the gala does not seem to find any form but is constantly being tried and renewed with the frenzy of despair, but the result is only one of the strangest tunings and failures.

The most recent solution this year was to drop a number of so-called “less attractive to the general public” award categories (such as cutting and make-up) out of the main event (awards in these categories will be given an hour before the Oscars) to make the long broadcast shorter and tighter. The New Yorker aptly described the reform, commenting that it would “drive away more film fans and not replace any new viewers”. The decision also reportedly caused a major internal dispute within the Film Academy, The Hollywood Reporter reported.

In some years, the gala is hosted by two people, sometimes the same person from year to year (Bob Hope 19 times, Billy Crystal 9 times, Johnny Carson 5 times). Sometimes, again, no one plots it, as in the last three years. This year, the damage will be taken back so that the gala will have as many as three presenters, known as comedy actors. Regina Hall, Wanda Sykes and Amy Schumer. Hopefully the fun women will get new life and joy at the gala and the viewership back on the rise.

However, it is not certain.

Sometimes the gala presenters are excellent, sometimes they flop completely (like a totally frozen in front of the cameras) James Franco in the year 2011).

Occasionally, there is a well-founded critique of the traditionally stuck film academy and then again mixed up in the awards ceremony (as in 2017, when the best film was first accidentally declared La La Land and soon after that the real winner was corrected Moonlight).

At times, the gala is full of breathtaking musical performances, momentum, and comedy (as in 2009), at times, it’s full of millionaire celebrities admiring self-praise and troublesome thanksgiving (as is very often the case in recent years).

The gala therefore completely lacks predictability and consistent quality. You never know if there’s a happy and action-packed show ahead or an annoying and numbing mess.

Despite all this, one of the biggest problems at the Oscars is that because it wants to be the biggest and most awesome of all the awards gala, it will only be held at all other awards galas (including BAFTA, Critic’s Choice Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and many more). ).

However, this has taken away almost all the excitement from Oscare. Sure, a few surprises are seen each year in different award categories, but most of the winners are known well in advance, as the same movies and people have already gone on a long round of awards gala to win their awards and secure their pre-popular status at the Oscars.

However, the Film Academy is unlikely to do anything about this in the next few years, as it will certainly want to maintain its position as the “first gala”, which will only be held after the other awards have been handed out – even if there is a threat of declining viewership.

Another big problem, of course, is that many of the films awarded at the gala are no international box office magnets. When the nominee also has audience favorites in between, it gathers viewers ’interest in the gala better. The Academy has tried to fix this by increasing the number of films competing in the Best Film category. 8 films competed for the Best Film award last year, 10 this year.

The Oscar gala will be a hundred years old in a few years. An all-time entertainment spectacle is expected from the centenary broadcast, and its Film Academy will certainly be well aware of it itself.

The jubilee year 2028 itself is sure to attract a good number of viewers to the TV screens, but it would be extremely important to see the most epic Oscar show ever. The different thing is where to get great producers and screenwriters and the right presenter or presenters. Many nostalgic would like to Billy Crystalin back, but he would be over 80 at the time.

The Oscars will still have a few years to rediscover the true soul and heart of the gala, otherwise the audience will continue to decline and interest in the awards ceremony will only diminish further.

My own wish is here: Bring awesome Hugh Jackman back to dance and sing like at the 2009 gala! Even then next year. That would be one step in the right direction, after all.

The Oscar gala will be shown on Yle Teema on Monday 28 March. in the morning. The broadcast from the red carpet starts at 01.31 and the gala itself at 03.00. Follow the gala on Iltalehti’s website and read what the gala’s most amazing outfits and most surprising twists are.