The members of the Academy must now watch all the nominated films in a category if they want to vote in the final. Above, the Oscar winners pose with their prices in 2017.
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Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
When the Academy announced that, from next year, Oscar voters will in fact have to watch all the films in a category before making their final choices, there was a lot of surprise in my social media world that it was not already a rule. Who would vote without seeing everything? How could your vote have integrity if you haven’t done it?
Unfortunately, a large part of the voting to the Oscars has little or no integrity, as demonstrated by embarrassing anonymous interviews “Honest Oscar Ballot” with voters in recent years. In March 2023, an anonymous producer explained her vote for the best actress in part saying: “Cate Blanchett (de Tar) and Michelle Williams (from Fabelmans) were good but a little irritating. “Her other comment on Williams was that she reminded her of his mother. So if you are looking for people to focus on art rather than vibrations, you are already intended to be disappointed.
In addition, the biggest obstacle for movies with a lower profile will continue to obtain a nomination in the first place. Of course, voters could see them if they make it along the final vote, but it will always remain true that nobody sees everything, and it will always put an asterisk at the end of something like “the best image”. The field begins to shrink not only before the appointments, but before anyone sees the films. Variety Put assumptions without sight on the Oscars of next year in March, a year before the ceremony and well before most of the films were released. They add a lot of warnings saying that everything is fun, but still: the votes of the Oscars are never, never made on a virgin slate.
The other problem, of course, is applicability. According to the Academy, they will follow what the voters will look in the digital projection room, then there will be a form to fill out on the films seen in theaters, festivals or private projections. It is therefore essentially the Honor System. What is the probability that people feel bound by an honor system if they do not vote for actresses, they find that “irritating” remains to be seen.
But! That said, this rule is better understood as an ambitious declaration and an ambitious declaration, it is difficult to challenge. People who get an native nomination should Be able to expect them to have a real chance of competing. Vote for the Oscars should Quite nasty that people are ready to spend some time seeing the work which, after all, is already appointed as among the best of the year. What would that mean if people in the film industry didn’t want to spend their time … watching movies?
This will not repair all the misfortunes in the process, to say the least. Even if it is followed, this rule would not prevent the Oscars from being ridiculous, as they are often, or Oscar gains badly of aging, as they often do. But there is something to say to at least force people to lie explicitly if they wanted to refuse to look everything. Perhaps the next anonymous voter of the Oscars will say: “I have not looked at all the documentaries, even if I signed something that I did”, and it will expose Tomfoolery that people end up suspecting anyway, on the basis of the results.
It is not a sea change, but it is something. There is probably a branch of the pool of voting which (1) will examine this rule and decide not to vote in the categories in which they do not see everything; Or (2) Take advantage of the opportunities to look at things that they would not look at otherwise, because the boost is enough. It therefore seems to be a gradual improvement in equity for films and lower profile categories, and if this is worth it. After all, you cannot call yourself “brutally honest” if you lie to the academy.
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