Admit it—the Oscars is not even relevant anymore.
Pretty strong words to begin with but who actually believes in their standard anymore? It’s to nobody’s surprise that for years, the 91st Academy Awards’ viewership has been constantly decreasing. This, of course, has reasons. As the Oscars recently revealed their nominations, it seems as if they’re about to lose more viewers. A lot of Filipinos would be looking forward to the winners of this event—if not actually stream it online or on TV. If you have a packed schedule, there’s no reason for you to fret. You won’t miss anything on the show and here are the reasons why:
Crazy Rich Asians Snub
If the award-giving body managed to snub ‘Crazy Rich Asians’, then who are we to root for now? I am sure a lot of you still want to know if Lady Gaga will take home the best actress award but let’s talk about the amazing performance of a particular actress in the film: Michelle Yeoh. Yeoh showed us the traits of a dragon lady with a twist. She had a strong grip on her character that even critics admired her for her role as Eleanor Young. The movie has also grossed more than $200 million worldwide. For every Asians and Asian-Americans, any recognition for the movie would mean a lot but it seems as if Oscars only care about the men of Hollywood—nothing more, nothing less.
Male Dominance
This isn’t the first time that the Academy has snubbed movies with female directors. This year, though the best picture category wants to appear socially involved by adding ‘Black Panther’ in the roster, their efforts again fall short. It’s as if the Academy completely shut their ears in the many acceptance speeches about equality—Patricia Arquette, a fine example as she outright told the Oscars 2015 crowd. There are a bunch of qualified female directors to be included in the nominees—Marielle Heller with ‘Will You Ever Forgive Me?’ and a favorite by critics, Debra Granik with ‘Leave No Trace’ to name a few. To have only five women to win the best director award in the 91-year run of the show is just as terrifying as showing that there’s really no progress being made in the film industry. Not to mention, they chose to nominate a director that flashes his privates for fun and a racist screenwriter (clue: ‘Green Book’).
Have You Seen This Movie?
The Oscars has a way of surprising us with nominees and winners. During a mishap, ‘La La Land’ almost won, then ‘Moonlight’ happened. There are a lot of times that the Academy choose the right movies and actors to put on the spotlight. A lot of you might think that this year will be about ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ or ‘A Star Is Born’ but even for the legends that are Freddie Mercury and Barbara Streisand, those movies may only be second or third to ‘Roma’ in the rankings. It may not be known to many, but ‘Roma’ is streaming on Netflix. To see it would only give you a reason to believe that this could just be another ‘Moonlight’. A movie that’s never been seen by local audiences is ‘BlacKkKlansman’ with Spike Lee as a strong contender for best director.
Main art from The Southern. In-article images from IMDB.
See Also:
The Show Must Go On: An Unadulterated Bohemian Rhapsody Movie Review
