Ummm, hardly a new thing. Some of the users here may remember Sacheen Littlefeather “accepting” the Best Actor award for Marlon Brando in 1973.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QUacU0I4yU
Of course they have been political for years. But politics in today’s world is highly charged and very divisive. I’m only reporting anecdotally about all of the people around here that did not watch. They wanted entertainment not politics. Many still watch TV so it’s not that they are watching less TV. They are tired of it and this is coming from both sides of the political spectrum amongst those that I know.
Actually, yes, people are watching less network tv.
Fewer and fewer people are watching TV anymore. I don’t believe for one second that the ratings have gone down because the show has gotten political. It’s always been political, it’s always been left leaning.
I gave up on award shows years ago. Got tired of being lectured. I watch shows to be entertained, if I wanted to be lectured about something I’d go visit my mom.
^ Are you my ninth grade student?
One can argue that it is more divisive today (but we won’t - at least not here), but one should realize that it was not all sunshine and rainbows in the 50’s with the Cold War and McCarthyism or in the 60’s with Vietnam and Civil Rights.
Nor do I. One can substitute NFL ratings for Oscar ratings and make the same argument on either side of the debate.
There have always been political moments. Remember Michael Moore? Oooh. And Susan Sarandon getting in trouble for getting political as an announcer?
The great thing is that there is less of those awful song and dance routines. It’s odd though, that they are hurrying everyone through their acceptance speeches (most of which were boring, but the people deserve their time at the mic), and then they go across the street to use a hot dog cannon on movie watchers.
Worst dressed imo was Lindsey Vonn tied with St. Vincent.
Best dressed athlete at the O’s was Garbine Mugurza. https://hellogiggles.com/news/who-is-garbine-muguruza-2018-oscars/
I also thought Maya Rudolph’s dress was awful and I was very disappointed in Salma. Didn’t like Kelly Rips’s either (especially the back.) There were a few I disliked more ( especially the one where it looked like person was in camouflage as a grass hut) but I don’t know the actresses/performers who were wearing them.
I thought most of the dresses were lovely but nothing where I thought wow. My best dressed are Allison Janney, Jenifer Gardner, Helen Miron, Jane (thought I wish shoulder pads were a tad smaller) and Nicole K.
People are watching much less TV nowadays - just google “tv watching trends.” The phenomenon is most pronounced for young people, ages 18-24; the only demographic that is holding steady appears to be among those over 65 years old.
This reference says that TV watching is not really dying - it’s “evolving”: http://www.businessinsider.com/traditional-tvs-demographic-woes-get-worse-2017-1
I would have watched it if they just streamed it live without making me buy an account. I would still have seen the ads.
Shortsighted on the part of the network, IMHO.
Apparently Frances McDormand’s Oscar was stolen last night.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/05/entertainment/frances-mcdormand-stolen-oscars/index.html
" The phenomenon is most pronounced for young people, ages 18-24"
Yup, that’s my kids. Zero traditional tv. They do occasionally watch Netflix and Amazon Prime but even that is only occasionally not an everyday habit. They prefer to do than watch.
So are you all saying politics has absolutely nothing to do with a decrease in viewers for the Oscars. I’m seriously asking because as I said, all of the people I’ve talked to today that didn’t watch said it was because of politics. I do believe it could be a combination of all of the above.
I think award shows are boring no matter what they’re doing. Political or apolitical, it’s all just blah blah blah.
I’m sure politics has plenty to do with lower viewership. People knew they were in for a lot of self righteous blah blah blah (to quote Wellspring), from a bunch of hypocrites making one sided lectures and jokes.
Now I didn’t watch the entire program, but I saw plenty of, “You go girl”, and support for people of color, which was just fine. But then the vast majority of the awards ended up going to old white men. Not that they didn’t deserve it, I have no idea and wouldn’t want to take away from their accomplishments. Maybe you have to have worked at something for decades to be good enough to beat the competition.
It just seemed…what’s the proper word, ironic? Hypocritical? Can’t find the appropriate word. But after awhile we just started laughing. And the winner is…another old white guy!
^I think that’s due more to a disconnect between the rank and file voters, and the people who show up on stage. I’m guessing that if it were up to the people on stage, there would be less old white guys. And for that matter, no awards to at least two allegedly abusive men. So it’s not really hypocrisy, but more of a change in attitudes that has progresssed more or less depending on demographic. As was said upthread, there are Academy voters who wouldn’t even screen Get Out. Bet they had no trouble voting for OWM.
Until last night, I had never heard of “Get Out”. Part of the low viewership is that the Academy nominates films that very few people see. They had a lot of viewers when “Lord of the Rings” was nominated. Same for the “Titanic” year.
In 2016 the Academy promised to double the number of “women and diverse members” by 2020. Also, they adopted a motion to make new members able to vote for only 10 years. After that, they can only renew voting privileges if they have worked recently in film in some way. Academy Award nominees and winners can vote for life.
So, this is already taking affect, although it is barely visible. Doubling the numbers is always open to interpretation. What are the numbers now? What are the percentages? I don’t think they are telling.
https://www.oscars.org/news/academy-takes-historic-action-increase-diversity
Good Lord, people who wouldn’t even watch the movie were allowed to vote? Seems that the very first requirement of being an Academy voter would be that you MUST watch the movie. No watch, no vote!!