The Oscars depreciate – Entertainment

Attempts to attract the audience with new elements were unsuccessful and resulted in conflicting controversies

Before the 94-2022 Academy Awards ceremony took place, controversies arose around the organizers’ decision to announce 8 categories in advance to save the program time for singing and memorial activities.

Bored audience

After the awards ceremony, the controversy was even more intense around Will Smith’s “Oscar slap” for comedian Chris Rock. All honors are overshadowed by a rare, shocking scandal that saves viewers.

In its heyday, the Oscars ceremony was one of the movie industry’s biggest events on the planet, attracting a large audience of moviegoers. The number of viewers watching the awards ceremony is at 35-45 million views. From 2015 onwards, the number of viewers watching the awards ceremony began to decline. According to Nielsen statistics, the number of viewers for the Oscars 92-2020 decreased by 20% compared to 2019, reaching only 23.6 million views. In 2021, the number of viewers continues to decrease by 58.3% compared to 2020, only 9.85 million views, reaching the lowest record in the history of the awards ceremony.

The three main MCs of Oscar 2022. (Photo: REUTERS)

The reason for the decrease was attributed to the 3 and a half hour ceremony without an MC leading to inconsistency. The lackluster singing repertoire and the most unexpected but confusing performance belonged to Eminem with the old track.

According to Deadline’s critic Dominic Patten, the awards ceremony soon became a lifeless circus with performances of all kinds but too pale. Variety writer Caroline Framke described the awards ceremony as a crazy adventure, luckily the emotions were saved at the last minute with the victory of “Parasite”.

The Academy is looking for ways to improve the situation, regaining the attractiveness of the perennial awards ceremony. They decided to return to tradition by inviting an MC to host the award ceremony after 3 years without an MC. Three female comedians Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes were selected for this position. They also decided to announce in advance the results of 8 categories including: short documentary, edit, makeup/hairdressing, soundtrack, production design, animated short, live-action short film and sound .

However, all did not help to break through the viewership with an average measured around 13.7 million. This number only increased after Will Smith took to the stage to slap guest – comedian Chris Rock. The rare incident helped the final viewership of the awards ceremony increase by 56% compared to 2021, reaching 15.36 million views. Even so, this is still the second-lowest number after the record low set in 2021.

The incident of Will Smith and Chris Rock made the awards ceremony a failure because all honoring events were eclipsed in a negative direction. According to Variety, if you ask 100 people in the entertainment industry what to expect when watching the Oscars, you will surely get 100 different opinions. But the 100 people above all agree that the scandal that occurred at the Oscars 2022 is not what everyone needs. “I think it’s disappointing!” – an (unnamed) member of the Academy, commented.

Create a chain of controversy

Besides the Will Smith scandal, the 2022 Oscars ceremony was steeped in controversy. As soon as the Academy announced that it would announce 8 categories in advance to dedicate time to singing and memorial activities, controversy broke out between people in other circles and within the Academy.

Director Steven Spielberg strongly objected when he said that any component is indispensable in the filmmaking process. Therefore, everyone should be honored equally, should not discriminate between the heavy and the light side. More than 70 people in other professions such as James Cameron, Guillermo del Toro… signed a petition to protest against the decision of the Academy.

“The Academy’s mission is to honor filmmakers at all levels, including technical ones. Removing any category from a live show undermines that mission” – Mark A. Lanza, president of Motion Picture Sound Editors, commented.

The original plan was to record the award ceremony in advance for 8 categories, after that, the video would be edited and replayed instead of being presented directly on stage. However, when it came time to award the award, the audience saw that 4 out of 8 categories had announced the results of being awarded the golden statue directly on stage but it happened quickly.

The invitation to 3 MCs who are all comedians and the guests to award the awards also have some comedians become the source of controversy for the next Oscar 2022. Three female MCs Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes have There are jokes that are underestimated, discounting the prize with weird costumes, abuse of humor, making the awards ceremony look serious and professional. They joked that the Academy invited 3 female MCs because female MCs are paid less than male MCs and the organizers want to save money. This joke is considered disrespectful to women, self-deprecating.

Many in the industry believe that the Academy has tried to change in the direction of rejuvenation in order to find ways to attract the audience, return to its heyday, but move away from the core values ​​that the award has had for nearly a hundred years. : Honor for filmmakers, the professionalism, the prestige of an award born and developed solely focused on cinema.

The audience’s boredom, the criticism of the industry is a wake-up call for the organizers to realize that it’s time to return to core values ​​rather than chasing after vanity and self-depreciating the prize.

Will Smith was banned from the Academy Awards ceremony for 10 years after the actor slapped comedian Chris Rock on stage. The Academy thanked Chris Rock for remaining calm during unusual circumstances and thanked the MCs, nominees, and honorees for their poise and grace throughout the event. try. Will Smith accepts and respects the Academy’s sanctioning decision.