The Academy Awards given out by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, colloquially known as the Oscars, have been revered as the most prestigious film award across the film industry. While there is no lack of film awards — like the Palme d’Or, the BAFTAs, or the Golden Globes — historically, the Oscars have been perceived as the film award show of the year. These awards are highly Western, as the first major award for cinema arts anywhere. That said, the Academy Awards have established themselves as an institution, not just a glamorous occasion and ceremony. For a long time, there really was something substantial behind that image. The award recognized many facets of the film arts scene — including the short film format, cinematography, costume and make-up design, soundtrack, among many others.

The Oscars have also sporadically been an avenue for activism from the margins of the American entertainment industry, albeit unintentionally. Think back to Marlon Brando sending Native American activist Sacheen Littlefeather to refuse his award for his performance in The Godfather, or to Frances McDormand who left the crowd reflecting over the term “inclusion rider”, or to the #MeToo movement that gained popularity through sexual assault survivors in Hollywood.

Unfortunately, these are not the “controversies” the Oscars are remembered for. It is petty scandals like the envelope-gate with Moonlight and La La Land of 2017 and Will Smith slapping Chris Rock across the face on stage in 2022 that remains in people’s minds. Perhaps a leading reason why many still tune in and watch the show is the anticipation of a scandal and the desire to say you witnessed it live, before it even hit the headlines. However, this greatly undermines the prestige that the Academy tries to maintain.

Every year, people speculate about award snubs or political machinations behind the scenes to not include a certain film in the nominations list. At this point, it is no secret that production companies are involved in lobbying for awards. Back in 2016, Variety revealed that studios paid three to 10 million USD during award season campaigning for their nominated production.

These campaigns even included expensive meals and luxurious presents. Perhaps the most popular case of lobbying in the history of the Oscars was Harvey Weinstein’s yellow-brick road to nominations and winning. The notorious Hollywood producer went through great lengths so movies from his studio, Miramax, could get the coveted award. Following the #MeToo movement, a lot of cases of his misconduct, both against female actresses who worked on productions of his studio and against the rules and regulations of the Academy, surfaced and eventually led to his arrest.

Perhaps the greatest controversy that influenced the audience’s outlook on the awards is the 2016 #OscarsSoWhite movement. The lack of racial representation among acting nominees raised the question of the potential political agenda behind the Academy Awards. Infographics showing the extreme disparity between white and black actors and filmmakers who have been nominated, let alone awarded, circulated the internet and reached major media outlets. Since then, there have been actions taken, especially in the membership in the Academy: the number of female members has doubled and the number of black representatives tripled. But is this really enough?

Unfortunately, no. The changes implemented by the Academy only highlighted their long history of discrimination and racism. Additionally, all of the other petty scandals associated with the ceremony only undermined the gravity of all noble causes brought to the stage of the Awards, including the #MeToo movement. At this point, its significance in Hollywood is so devalued, that it is used more often as a punchline in silly show skits than for actual activism, like in the speech by Amy Schumer, Wanda Sykes, and Regina Hall on last year’s ceremony.

The Oscars are also notorious for not being culturally inclusive. Considering that Parasite by Bong Joon-Ho is the first and last non-English motion picture to win the Best Picture award, four years ago in 2019, one can conclude the Academy is not generally interested in supporting diverse voices. The category Best International Feature Film has also been in the spotlight of criticisms from film critics because of its flawed and discriminatory criteria. Originally called Best Foreign Film, the title of the category was recently changed to reflect the mission of the Academy Awards — to highlight excellence and bring more exposure to films with smaller budgets. Thus far, that has only served as a temporary band-aid fix to a larger problem that continues to devalue non-English language films. Putting all ‘international’ productions of different commercial scales, genres and socio-economic backgrounds in the same category creates a further separation between big scale Hollywood productions and smaller ‘arthouse’ pictures. Furthermore, there is still a serious lack of representation within the category itself, since the majority are usually from Western European countries and only occasionally from anywhere else in the world.

Taking all of this into account, many cinephiles are left wondering whether the Oscars are really worth following. Aspiring young filmmakers are questioning whether they want to be represented by such an institution. And while we are preparing the popcorn in anticipation of another meme-worthy live TV scandal, we should reflect on why institutions such as the Academy of Film Arts and Sciences might not really deserve our attention after all, even for the jokes.