The first Oscars took place in Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on May 16, 1929, and it was a minuscule, 250-person event organized by the MGM film studio. This humble, non-profit event was the first Academy Awards ceremony, which was aimed at advancing the influence of the newly established film industry. The event was fairly simple; viewers would tune in using their radios or televisions and watch their favorite actors and actresses receive an Oscar award for their best roles. While the first Academy Awards were a small-scale and private event, the organizers were quick to realize that the show could be a major money maker. With the limited public access to celebrities at the time, the Oscars were basically the only time that common people could see actors out of character. Soon, the ceremony was pulling in millions of viewers (43 million by 1953), and the runtime was extended to a couple of hours, rather than a few minutes. As film technology advanced, and factors such as color and CGI were added to film, other categories were added to recognize people working behind the scenes. All of these factors, as well as an amazing comedic performance by Billy Crystal, led to the peak viewership level that the Oscars ever reached in 1998, with 55.3 million viewers.

Since its peak in 1998, the Oscars have been on a steady decline, dropping 56 percent in their viewership over the course of two years (post-2019 and pre–Will Smith slap). This trend is not only indicative of a boredom with the content of the event but also a disdain for the borderline self-obsessed essence of the ceremony. Even the easy hit live performance of “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” was spoiled by the Academy’s insistence to make it a Megan Thee Stallion remix, which featured botched lyrics like “We’re here to celebrate Oscars” (in tune to the original song’s chorus). The Oscars’ descent into irrelevance leads us to wonder what happened to the once beloved event? First and foremost, the novelty of seeing celebrities or actors in their natural states has long since vanished, even before 2019. From tabloids to Instagram fan pages, the average person is sick of seeing celebrities. Many actors, such as Armie Hammer, Amber Heard and Alec Baldwin have actually gained notoriety for what they’ve done outside of their performances, due to their problematic personal lives. You no longer need to tune into an awards show in order to see your favorite celebrities out of character. In light of this, the Oscars made little attempt to change up their format until it was too late. In recent years, they have presented without a host, and cut very important categories (such as sound and editing) from live broadcasting in place of categories like “Fan Favorite” in hopes that these were the problems deterring people from watching. Yet they refuse to stream the Oscars live on one of many popular streaming platforms instead of the ABC channel, when most people do not have or watch cable television and are not willing to subscribe to the broadcasting service for one night only. This scramble to stay relevant is so pathetic that it makes the Oscars seem less professional than ever, despite their insistence that they are the most prestigious film event. The award show recieved the most publicity in two years this month because Will Smith assaulted Chris Rock on stage.

A solution in the coming years is unlikely. The Will Smith slap was but a roadblock to the imminent demise of the Oscars. A restructuring of the entire event (including diversifying the Academy and the awards, as well as creating some excitement for the event itself other than just celebrities winning a little statue) is necessary for the award show to stay afloat. Given that the event’s recent attempts to restructure the format have been widely unsuccessful and how specific this change needs to be to work, a resurface of the Oscars’ relevance is highly unlikely.

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