The truth about the Oscars

About three or four years ago, a thread popped up on Reddit started by the well-known user Mickey Legend. He went on a massive tear against the Oscars, arguing that the nominees are basically decided in advance, that movies are manufactured specifically to chase trophies, and that certain people just sit around a table to divvy up the awards among themselves.

Back then, I was completely against that line of thinking—even if I do firmly believe the Academy tends to hand out "lifetime achievement" style nods to people who earned their stripes years ago. But after seeing something this morning, my perspective has shifted entirely.

While watching some TV promos for "Walk The Line" with a colleague, I caught a commercial from Fox that claimed the following:
"A 5-time Academy Award nominee, including Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Actress..."
Since the spot was only about 20 seconds long, my first thought was that they’d made a huge mistake. However, after rewinding and watching it once, then twice, I realized I wasn't hallucinating.

As far as I know, the Oscar nominations haven't even been announced yet (unless I'm mistaken), but if Fox is already running TV spots for their films claiming Oscar wins that haven't even been determined, it casts a very suspicious light on the Academy itself.

I realize most people don't care much about the Oscars—in fact, plenty of people instinctively avoid "award winners," and some even go out of their way to trash them after watching—but to me, this feels like an absolute disgrace to the film industry. It’s proof that nowadays, everything—and I mean absolutely EVERYTHING—is just pure commercialism. I mean, I always knew it was bad, but I'm officially done with movies that seem to exist solely to chase a paycheck rather than art.🙂

Anyway, just wanted to share that with you all... 😉

I’m sure there’s some shady business and rigging going on behind the scenes, but you can't fake everything. There's no way to manipulate all 5,476 Academy members, or whatever the actual count is.

brightscout63 said:I suspect there’s some manipulation going on—certainly some tampering—but you can't fake everything. You simply can't rig all 5,476 Academy members, or however many they claim there are.

And who exactly is counting those 5,476 votes—or whatever that number is?

It’ll be pretty wild to see how many nominations this movie actually pulls in.
There’s a chance they have a few different versions of those clips floating around—you know, one saying "nominated in 2 categories," another saying "4," maybe even "6." It’s totally possible the producers are just guessing their luck and filming all these different promos ahead of time, just so they can drop the "perfect" one on January 31st...

But, if the film actually ends up landing 5, 👎

Rachel Brooks63 said:but if that movie actually lands 5, 👎

Look, regardless of how you slice it, that film deserves those nominations...

It’s just a really solid movie. Personally, I found it much better than last year's Raya... 😉

I haven't actually seen it, so I don't really have an opinion yet.

But hey, if it truly is that good... then it’ll probably land more than 5 nominations, right? 😉

Perhaps the votes for the nominations have already been tallied. The results will be released later, of course. I've heard that authors are often notified ahead of time but are expected to keep it under wraps. Maybe that’s what happened here... except it seems like Fox slightly messed up. A total coincidence, naturally.

The deadline for submitting nominations is coming up at the end of this week.

Is anyone actually discovering anything new here? 😁

Richard Howard2 said:Is anyone actually being enlightened here? 😁

😬 aha

Well, redowl90, I wouldn't pay too much attention to that if I were you; I suppose they just made a tiny little slip-up by accident. 🙂

I honestly think that was just a slip of the tongue. I highly doubt a single movie trailer would be enough to expose some grand, high-society Masonic conspiracy behind the Oscars 😁

Regardless of all this, I don't really have much of an opinion on the Oscar. Sure, it might be interesting to watch, but most of their winners are honestly pretty mediocre (like Titanic—seriously??)
Then again, this is an industry where massive amounts of money change hands, so I doubt everything is truly "fair." You've got major studios in the mix that can definitely sway the votes, and I find it hard to believe there's any theory where one studio sweeps almost all the trophies two years in a row, regardless of the actual "quality" of the films.

Jessica Davis12 said:Regardless of all that, I don't really have a strong opinion on the Oscars. I mean, they can be fun to watch, but most of their winners feel totally underwhelming to me (like, Titanic? Seriously??)
and

The absolute peak of absurdity was when Lord of the Rings: Return of the King walked away with 11 Oscars...
I suppose you could try to justify those wins for Titanic... actually, no, you really can't...

The biggest mistake was when Lord of the Rings: Return of the King walked away with 11 Oscars.
You could try to justify those Oscars for Titanic, but honestly? You really can't.

Think about it. Return of the King. He swept the Oscars for the entire trilogy. Just watch it as if it were one single ten-hour epic.

At this point, we can pretty much call it—the landscape for the nominations is starting to crystalize. Most of the major film guilds and unions have already released their lists, and since a huge chunk of those members also sit on the Academy, we're getting a very clear picture of what's coming.
Walk The Line actually snagged a nod at the Producers Guild Awards, along with two Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations; I’m guessing those latter two are likely for production design and makeup.

Jessica Davis12 said:Regardless of all this, I don't have much respect for the Oscars. Sure, they're fun to watch, but most of their winners are total misses (like Titanic—seriously??)

A Neglected ceremony filled with endless thanks to family, God, and the producers.🤮
Just a parade of tears and sentimentality.

If you want an Oscar, just play a moron, a person with a disability, or—in the last few years—someone coming out. Then it's yours.

Oscar movies are just projects, plain and simple—no different from any other marketing and advertising campaign. A major studio sets an annual roadmap that accounts for everything: the massive blockbusters, the total flops (!), the modest successes, and the Oscar contenders. Personally, I’m convinced every production house essentially buys their way into the Oscars; they know the exact formula used to assemble these types of films. My reasoning is quite straightforward: the sheer predictability of these movies is undeniable. 🙂

The Oscar is vital for long-term marketing, and honestly, the entire global film industry seems to revolve around nothing else. You find both good and bad entries in the Oscar category, but the key is that they share specific characteristics, making them highly programmable assets. The heavy hitters at these major studios consist of the absolute best in the business working for massive payouts, so it would be bizarre if they left anything to chance. In a capitalist society, we learn pretty quickly that when millions of dollars are on the line, people don't take unnecessary risks.
What you can't really schedule, however, are true masterpieces from independent and foreign cinema. Those films prioritize the concept of art above all else, and because of that, they will likely never see an Oscar or a major publicity blitz.

Jessica Davis12 said:(like Titanic??)

I actually find these kinds of takes pretty hilarious... 😉

Out of its 11 Oscars, Titanic only really took home TWO (2) in those "major" categories; everything else went to technical stuff and the score (which I still listen to all the time)... So why would anyone complain about that? That movie was technically the best-made film of the year, and it earned every single Oscar it got: production design, costumes, cinematography, sound, sound effects, visual effects, and the music.

As for Return of the King, it only swept the Oscars because the previous two films basically ignored the Genius mind (an absolutely overrated movie from that year) and Chicago...

graniteotter4 said:😬 true

Don't sweat it, redowl90. It looks like they just made a minor slip-up here. 🙂

I'm pretty convinced this isn't an error. They're sending out spots that have already been cleared for TV broadcast...

Boba Fett said:There are certainly good Academy Award winners and bad ones, but I suppose what really matters is that they all share certain common threads...

....and I guess those shared traits are simply that they feel "larger than life." 😁