Celebrities dressed to the nines; fancy, ornate envelopes; and shiny golden awards. All are the classic trappings of any good award show. But when the presenters read out the famous words “And the Oscar goes to …” we have to ask, is the winner really the person who submitted the best work?
Award shows are meant to recognize outstanding work in a variety of fields. Actors, singers, directors, writers and more all stand to face the judgment of their peers and their industry. Winning these awards is supposed to signify you were the best at something, whether that be as a supporting actor or your songwriting abilities. It conveys a legitimacy to your work, and the glitz and glamor of the award show is meant to be a stand-in for the credibility of the institution bestowing these awards. Being recognized for one’s work matters in any field, whether you work in the arts or accounting.
At the same time, winning an award can bring benefits beyond getting to deliver a heartwarming speech. Movies nominated at the Oscars can receive a bump in box office sales as more potential viewers are introduced to the movie and as it newly possesses the golden statuette seal of approval. Singers who win — or are simply nominated — also get a similar boost to record sales and streams. Being recognized by the mainstream institutions in your field provides new opportunities and visibility, which can be incredibly valuable.
This all establishes why we have award shows and why artists still want to win them, but it doesn’t get at the question of whether they’ve grown outdated. There are two main critiques of the award show setup that question the award body’s legitimacy and indicate their failure to interest viewers. Award shows feel increasingly less relevant and accurate, as audiences question if the best work was truly honored. This is reflected in viewership for the Oscars and Grammys, both of which have been on a decline since the early 2010s.
One of the main critiques of award shows that have been apparent with both the Oscars and the Grammys is the disregard for people of color. In the last decade, there has been a particularly heightened criticism of the Oscars, with the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite bursting into the cultural lexicon in 2015 as a critique of an all-white acting nominee slate. In addition, female directors are egregiously overlooked, with the first woman only winning the Best Director Oscar in 2010. Since then, only five women have been nominated in that category.
For the Grammys, Black artists have been consistently pigeonholed into rap or urban categories, even when they are pushing into new sounds that would better fit under other labels. Furthermore, the Grammys haven’t awarded Album of the Year to a Black woman in 25 years, an oversight that even the winners have pointed out. This adds to a history where the Grammys used to not even televise the awards for rap categories.
The second major critique of these award bodies is the perception of corruption among the voting bodies. The Grammys have had multiple challenges with this, and in 2020, the CEO of the Recording Academy even filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, listing out several problems with the Grammys. In her complaint, she detailed how the voting process was corrupt, with artists sitting on the nomination panels that would review their own work and committees nominating artists that they wanted to perform during the show.
The Oscars are similarly plagued with questions of legitimacy over their voting process, with actors questioning if voters even watch the movies that are nominated. There have been numerous reports and write-ups that the voters routinely skip watching some of the eligible movies, and it is often stories about people of color that get overlooked. Furthermore, many get the perception that the Oscars is simply about what actor has the best connections to personally sway the voters, regardless of talent. In 2023, this dynamic drew attention when Andrea Riseborough was nominated for best actress, seemingly out of nowhere. Her nomination push relied on calling up friends who would likely be voters and personally asking them to consider her for a nomination.
Award shows are meant to reflect and recap each year’s work produced in a given field. They give both fans and the industry the chance to talk about what made a significant impression, what told a compelling story and what moved audiences. But when the very institutions meant to give out these awards are seen as uninterested in reviewing the work presented, or when the award simply goes to the highest bidder, it can become lethal.