The Oscars are undergoing some major changes as it's been announced today that the awards ceremony will now run for three hours with many categories presented in commercial breaks and highlights from those then shown later in the show. That's no big deal, right? Sure, it's a departure from what we're used to but is what many award shows do and a clever way to combat rating woes.
Here's where things get really interesting, though; according to an official statement, the Academy "will create a new category for outstanding achievement in popular film." In other words, "popular" movies like Avengers: Infinity War, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and, uh, Fast and Furious will finally be acknowledged but as good as it will be to see movies like that win an Oscar, there is a catch of sorts.
Doing this essentially allows the Oscars to remain as pretentious as ever, with a release like Black Panther forced out of the "Best Picture" category because they simply don't want to recognise a mainstream movie like that (which has just as much artistic merit as many of the other nominated movies no one cares about or sees). So, as progressive as this sounds on the surface, it really isn't.
Honestly, the whole thing feels pretty condescending but it will be fun to see how the Academy attempts to figure out what gets nominated (there's already a lot of backlash on social media, so they'll have to give it some thought). What do you guys think? As always, share your thoughts below.
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