Fix the Oscars

Art by Trevor Pacelli

By Trevor Pacelli
The viewership numbers for the Academy Awards ceremony back in the 1990s would easily reach 30 to 50 million viewers each year, but in 2021, viewership hit rock-bottom with 10.4 million viewers and struggled to get back to its glory days. In efforts to win back the public, the people behind this organization resorted to disrespectful gimmicks like removing “lesser” categories from the live show to make more time for pointless sketches and “virality” moments. Even worse, they continue to only use the movies they nominate and award, as well as the acceptance speeches, to push specific political agendas. Yet these pathetic efforts haven’t worked in their favor. I’ve been an avid follower of the Oscars for several years, and since the pandemic, my respect for the AMPAS has grown less each year, to the point I haven’t watched the live ceremony since 2021. I do believe it is important to acknowledge filmmaking achievements, but only if done correctly. So, what should be done to make the average person WANT to watch a bunch of out-of-touch rich people being rewarded for what they do in their industry? Here are some ways to give Oscar his overdue face-lift:

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1. Structure the ceremony to showcase the nominees

The ceremony is currently notorious for being unstructured and disorganized. The only categories that get properly showcased for their work are the acting nominees (sometimes), best original score (maybe), and best original song (based on who the producers feel like allowing to perform). There’s so much more they could do. For instance, the best costume design nominees could have a fashion runway show that displays their work. The commentator could then give some bits of trivia on the design process of each costume. The best production design nominees could likewise show behind-the-scenes footage of building the sets. The cinematography nominees could have a montage showcasing the beautiful shots from each film. The sound nominees could be interviewed to explain their challenges recording audio and creating the sound effects during postproduction. Think of the possibilities this could bring in creating a fun ceremony that celebrates the art of film!

2. Encourage audience participation

Oscar prediction ballots are already prevalent on many sites, which is great, and it can be a fun game when everyone making predictions knows exactly what they are predicting. But as things are nowadays, the prediction game doesn’t matter if most people haven’t even heard of the nominated films and shorts. One big reason people are unfamiliar with these movies is because the movie theater is dying—the Oscars refuse to embrace that streaming is now the dominant way to watch movies, and that the glory days of making an event out of going out to a movie theater are never coming back. Maybe the Academy could create a streaming platform designated for watching all the Oscar nominated films and shorts from the past and present—imagine, Oscars+! This streaming platform could even feature original content—the nominated actors, cinematographers, VFX artists, etc. explaining how they did their work. It would be so fascinating for anyone to see and would be an easy way to engage interest from people by speaking at their level.

3. Nominate the right movies

BoxOfficeMojo says that 2025’s top 10 highest grossing movies without any Oscar nominations are: A Minecraft Movie, Lilo & Stitch, Superman, Wicked: For Good, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and How to Train Your Dragon. Of the other four, Zootopia 2, Avatar: Fire and Ash, Jurassic World: Rebirth, and Sinners all got nominations (and Sinners broke the record for the most nominations for a movie ever, sixteen). Rather, seeing all ten of these movies nominated for something would get more people interested in seeing who wins, depending on their public reception. For instance, A Minecraft Movie currently sits at 48 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and 5.6 on IMDb, so its awards recognition should be limited to supporting technical categories, particularly for its visual effects, score, and song. Whereas Zootopia 2 and Superman, while not necessarily great movies, were financially successful and had good ratings across the board, which is enough to say those should be prioritized in getting nominated in most categories. It would be way more exciting to watch if there were thirteen nominations given to Superman instead of some poorly reviewed French movie seen by basically nobody.

4. Ban the campaigns

Movies nowadays get recognized for awards if the studios behind them invest millions of dollars in campaigning for voters. Actors and producers may also scream for the voters’ attention, whether by sending personalized letters, hosting private screenings, paying other A-list celebrities to endorse them, or by sending voters DVD copies. This doesn’t sound so bad? Well, look at Shakespeare in Love. This dreadfully mediocre movie has become hated for beating Saving Private Ryan for best picture, and rightfully so, mainly because the aggressive campaign was led by… get ready for this… Harvey Weinstein. Not only did he invest millions of dollars in screenings, parties, and press, but he also campaigned AGAINST the competition by insisting that people only liked Saving Private Ryan because of its first fifteen minutes. The strategy from this Hollywood monster paid off, and producers to this day follow the same strategy in campaigning their movies for awards. So yeah, Oscar campaigns can be rooted in Hollywood evil and should not be embraced.

5. Limit the acceptance speeches

Celebrities, of course, love to use their chance with cameras aimed at them and the whole world watching to say whatever’s on their hearts, which unfortunately means often they preach about their political opinions. One of the worst cases included the 1973 ceremony when Marlon Brando won best actor for The Godfather and instead sent Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather to address Hollywood’s mistreatment of American Indians. Although she and Marlon Brando had a point, this wasn’t the place or time to do it. Even without any political talk, the winning actors’ speeches can still be extremely insufferable. Last year, when Adrien Brody won best actor, he broke the world record for the longest ever Oscar acceptance speech at five minutes and forty seconds! Seeing how the producers let him ramble on about nothing while other winners in other categories were cut off by music and abrupt cuts to commercials is unbelievably insulting. Everyone in every category deserves the same amount of time for their acceptance speeches, at maximum two minutes. At that point, the microphone should then be automatically cut and the orchestra automatically made to play as the winner’s cue to leave the stage.

6. Change the presenters

The celebrities coming onstage with an envelope in hand to announce the next winner of the next category often first make painfully unfunny jokes aimed only at the other celebrities in the theater; the people at home usually don’t get the context. Not to mention that often the presenters are allowed more screentime than the winners of the “lesser known” tech categories get in their acceptance speeches! So maybe the presenters shouldn’t be celebrities? That makes sense; after all, it’s not like people at home have been itching all year to see these famous faces. They can see them all the time online! There have been attempts to personalize these win announcements, as the presenter would talk from the stage directly to each nominee, making the presentation feel more personal. Honestly, it would be far more memorable to just watch a sample of the nominees’ performances and understand why they were nominated, and even just have Price Waterhouse Coopers announce each winner. After all, they counted the votes, they brought in the envelopes, why not have them also read from the envelopes?

7. Get a funny likable host

The Oscars have a bad reputation already, and every awards season is controversy stacked upon controversy, and much of that weight lands on the shoulders of the host. Now, the ceremony does not NEED a host, and they have proven before that they can function perfectly fine (and perhaps even better) without a host. But if a host truly is necessary, the selection process of who to host should be carefully considered. Some of the most disastrous Oscars hosts ever, like James Franco and Anne Hathaway, Seth MacFarlane, Amy Schumer, Regina Hall, and Wanda Sykes, had no standup comedy skills, or their jokes were just too tasteless and mean-spirited for no reason. It would be great if the host was an actual professional standup comedian, like Chris Rock, but other great hosts could include Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias or certain actors known for their comedic roles. Such actors who are liked by the public and already gained the reputation of being funny might include Kristen Wiig, Amy Poehler, Tina Fey, Ryan Reynolds, and Jack Black. Without a likable face to attach the Oscars to, the viewers at home would never willfully tune in to watch.

Conclusion

If the Academy Awards invested their efforts to structure the ceremony around showcasing the work of all the nominees instead of time-wasting jokes and skits, then the show could finally entertain the average viewer. If an online streaming service was offered by the Academy to make all the nominees in their entire history accessible, then the nominees of the past and present would become more widely discussed around the water cooler. If prioritization was placed into nominating the more successful movies rather than the more pretentious Oscar-baity movies, then more people would willfully watch the show. If studios stopped campaigning for the voters’ attention, then the list of nominees would be more varied and honest. If more action was taken to limit the acceptance speeches, a greater variety of audiences would find appeal in the many aspects of film being recognized, and the acceptance speeches would no longer be insufferable to sit through. If the presenters were Price Waterhouse Coopers instead of other celebrities, then the show would move by more quickly with less painfully unfunny jokes. If there was a host holding the show together who knew what they were doing, then more people would not only want to watch the show but have a great time. Once these changes are implemented to bring the Oscars back into the present day, then the show can finally be exciting again for more people, while honoring the well-deserved achievements in film that’ll guarantee a golden future for Hollywood.
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Trevor Pacelli is a young adult on the autism spectrum as well as the author of What Movies Can Teach Us About Disabilities, What Movies Can Teach Us About Bullying, Summer of the Fruit Virus and the illustrator of The Kindergarten Adventures of Amazing Grace: What in the World is Autism?, Gardenland: The Peas' and Carrots' Party Shake-Up, Tipper Takes the Mound, and the author/illustrator of Amazing Grace Goes to the Zoo.