What to pay attention to now that the Oscars have lost prestige?

The Oscars are losing credibility and prestige. For example, the award ceremony for the 2021 edition had the worst audience rating in its history: 9.85 million viewers. It was a 58% drop compared to the previous year, which had 23.6 million, which had already been a record low.

However, the negative trend seems to come from years ago, more specifically since the emergence of the Internet and social networks. The sense of the show has been lost since we know the day-to-day of all the stars thanks to the networks. On the other hand, years ago it was the only possibility to see certain actors and directors live.

Now it has only become a formality, which many people observe to see if something exceptional happens. Some of the events could be top-level music shows, something that has not been happening in recent years, to reinvent itself as a television product. And what about the awards? Well, there has also been a lot of controversy in the past.

The problem of the Oscars and the new options

A clear case could be seen with "La La Land", at the 2017 Oscar Awards. This film was the favorite, after being the most awarded film in the history of the Golden Globes. However, for that year it not only lost against "Moonlight", to a mixed reception, but there was also an error that demonstrated organizational problems.

At the 89th ceremony, Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty announced that the winner for Best Picture of the Year was "La La Land". However, later, while the producers of the film were giving thanks, they corrected themselves and commented that "Moonlight" had been the winner, causing a lot of anger on social networks. But that's not all, because there were also other controversial nominations.

A clear case occurred with "Bohemian Rhapsody", which was nominated for the best film at the 2019 Oscars. Although it had great performances and emotionally told the story of Queen, the cinematographic section was not well worked, to the point of having several directors on the same tape. And, of course, this offended moviegoers, accustomed to the fact that the Oscars rewarded “auteur cinema”.

All this combo of lack of audiovisual dynamism and lack of credibility for some moviegoers made the Oscars a debacle. So the question that arises is: what criteria to pay attention to when evaluating whether a movie is good or bad? Well, there are several options.

The most conservative has to do with the Golden Globes. This award, much less mediatic than the Oscars, continues to have cinematographic prestige, even though they do not have a large audience. There were not too many controversies regarding their statuettes and they usually represent the best of each year.

However, there are also other very interesting alternatives to highlight that have to do with the appearance of the Internet. One of them has to do with film analysis pages, both by users and by specialized critics.

Similarly, other websites, such as Tomatazos or Metacritic, have a rating system to assess how good a movie is. They also usually include a section for fans and another for specialized critics, so you can be guided by the opinion that interests you the most.

The same happens with social networks. There are many tweets from people who stand out for their knowledge of cinema, who express how they liked a film and even tend to generate trending topics about some of them. Some influencers also express their cinephile opinions, whether through tweets, Instagram stories, or YouTube videos. Some of them even tend to specialize in specific genres, such as horror, superheroes, or romance.

Some interesting applications have also emerged, such as Letterboxd. This page allows you to review and rate the movies you've watched, as well as allows you to follow other people whose opinions interest you. Consequently, you can see what people with likes close to you are saying.

Last but not least, there are also the platforms. Streaming services are launching new film productions that premiere on the small screen. Through their algorithm, they tell you which are the most viewed films, the best received by critics, and even those that are closest to your personal preferences.

Ultimately, the Oscars no longer seem to have a monopoly on what's good and what's not in cinematic terms. The opinion of this celebration is currently one more, which is added to all the options that we have presented to you. Use the ones you like the most to choose which movies to watch!