the oscars

[Beginnings.]

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The idea for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) began with the head of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Louis B. Mayer. It was initially founded as a company union but soon lost credibility among studio employees when it took the side of the major film studios to convince employees to agree to voluntary reductions in wages and salaries. Actor Conrad Nagel, director Fred Niblo, and the head of the Association of Motion Picture Producers, Fred Beetson, met to plan an annual banquet for members of the five branches of the industry: actors, directors, writers, technicians, producers, thirty-six of whom were invited to a formal event at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on January 11, 1927.  Everyone in the room that evening became a founder of the Academy, with Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. elected as the first president and Fred Niblo his vice. One of several committees formed in the Academy's initial days was for 'Awards of Merit,' which evolved to the creation of 12 categories: 'Most Outstanding Production,' 'Most Artistic or Unique Production,' and 'Achievement by an Actor,' 'Achievement by an Actress,' 'Dramatic Directing,' 'Comedy Directing,' 'Cinematography,' Art Directing, 'Engineering Effects,' 'Original Story Writing,' 'Adaptation Writing,' and in 'Title Writing.' By July 1928, the voting system was established, and the nomination and selection process began. The 'Award of Merit for Distinctive Achievement' is what we know now as the Academy Awards. The first televised Oscar show was in 1953, and the first broadcast in color was in 1966.

The name origins of the statuette given to the winners have been traced to three sources but have never been confirmed. Actress Bette Davis claimed that 'Oscar' derived from her observation that the backside of the statuette looked like that of her husband, Harmon Oscar Nelson. Columnist Sidney Skolsky maintained that he gave the award its nickname to negate pretension. The name has also been attributed to academy librarian Margaret Herrick, who declared that the golden trophy looked like her Uncle Oscar. 

During World War II, a metal shortage led to statues being made out of plaster rather than gold-plated bronze as they had been until then. This temporary change became permanent due to cost-effectiveness, even after metal shortages ended. 

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[Excelence.]

The AMPAS is home to a global membership of more than 10,500 of the most accomplished film industry artists and leaders. The Academy recognizes and celebrates all aspects of the arts and sciences of moviemaking, and with the world’s largest film museum and collection, preserves cinematic history. Membership in the Academy is by invitation only, and it comes from the Board of Governors. Eligibility may be achieved by earning a competitive Oscar nomination or being sponsored by two current Academy members from the same branch to which the candidate seeks admission. 

A film must be publicly exhibited for paid admission for at least one week at a commercial theatre in Los Angeles for one year to be eligible for an award.  Requirements for foreign-language films, documentaries, short films, and music differ. Only Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members may nominate and vote for candidates for the Oscars. The Academy is divided into various film production branches, and the corresponding members choose the nominees in each award category; thus, writers nominate writers, directors nominate directors, and so forth. 

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[Evolution.]

The first Academy Awards ceremony was held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in 1929. Other venues have included Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard (1944–46), the Marquis Theater in 1948, and the Los Angeles County Music Center in 1969. Since 2002, the ceremonies have occurred at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, previously known as the Kodak Theatre.

Over time, additional award categories were introduced to the Oscars, including 'Sound Recording and Editing,' which was crucial in introducing talking pictures or ‘talkies.’ Today, winners are selected from 24 categories, which include 'Best' Picture, Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Directing, Original Screenplay, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Production Design, Editing, Original Score, Original Song, Costume Design, Makeup, Hairstyling, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Visual Effects, Foreign-language Film, Animated Feature Film, Animated Short, Live-action Short, Documentary Feature, and Documentary Short, and Scientific and Technical achievements in the previous year, as well as 'Honorary Awards.'

In the early days, winners were announced three months before the ceremony. However, this changed soon after due to leaks about winners being published before they were officially announced. 

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[Hosts.]

The role of the Oscars host best suits those with a background in stand-up comedy. The evening usually begins with a light-hearted musical number, followed by an opening monologue. The show continues with the host introducing the awards' presenters - traditionally, the previous year’s winner for best actor presents the award for best actress - and smoothing things over when things go awry. The budget allotted for hosts is $15,000-$25,000, which has driven fewer talents to book the role, as they believe they should earn more due to the amount of work invested in the months leading up to the show. Over 70 famous faces have presented the Oscars, with Bob Hope holding the record of 18 shows since he first took to the Academy Awards stage in 1940. Billy Crystal hosted the ceremony nine times between 1990 and 2012. His 1998 performance was the most-watched Academy Awards broadcast ever. 

Some nights have been more successful than others. At the 60th Academy Awards in 1988, actor Chevy Chase's monologue started with 'Good evening, Hollywood phonies,' which received mixed reactions from the audience. David Letterman described his 1995 hosting stint as 'an explosion of excrement.' Despite the bombing, however, Letterman was asked to host the Oscars two more times, which he declined. James Franco and Anne Hathaway hosted the 83rd Academy Awards in 2011, and their lack of chemistry led to awkwardness. The New Yorker called McFarlane's 2013 hosting as 'hostile, ugly [and] sexist.' In 2015, 

Neil Patrick Harris poked fun at Hollywood and the Academy's lack of diversity with the evening's opening joke: 'We celebrate the best and the whitest—sorry, brightest,' which generated a positive response; however, other comments were considered mean and offensive. In 2019, the ceremony went hostless for the first time in 30 years after actor Kevin Hart, who was set to present, became embroiled in controversy over his past homophobic tweets. Reportedly pressed by the Academy to apologize, Hart changed his mind about hosting and backed out, stating that he didn’t want controversy around him to distract from the awards.

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[Memorable.]

The Oscars have had some memorable moments over the years. Greer Garson's acceptance speech took over six minutes in 1943, when she won 'Best Actress' for Mrs. Miniver, making it the longest in Oscar history, while Patty Duke and Charlie Chaplin delivered the shortest ones. A once in the ceremony's lifetime, the telecast ran short, forcing host Jerry Lewis to improvise for twenty minutes in 1958. By 1972, Charlie Chaplin had already won two Oscars. Still, after twenty years in exile, his honorary award was marked by the longest ovation in Oscar history, lasting almost twelve minutes. Marlon Brando's 1973 win for 'Best Actor' in The Godfather turned into a protest against Hollywood’s treatment of Native Americans. The first time a naked man stole the show was when the ceremony was interrupted by Robert Opel, who streaked across the stage in 1974, a moment relived at the 2024 ceremony by actor John Cena. In the original stunt, host David Niven raised to the occasion with the impromptu comment, 'The only laugh that man will ever get in his life is by stripping off and showing his shortcomings.' 1977 brought together Sylvester Stallone, also known as Rocky Balboa, who was presenting an award, and boxer Muhammad Ali. The two engaged in a playful argument and mock tussle, which Ali eventually won, to the audience's delight. In 1985, Laurence Olivier received a standing ovation when he stepped on stage to present the 'Best Picture' award. He became so overwhelmed by the applause that he forgot the protocol of reading the nominees' names, going straight to opening the envelope and announcing the winner Amadeus. Billy Crystal's opening gag in 1992, when he was wheeled onto the stage dressed as Hannibal Lecter from Silence Of The Lambs, was an instant crowd-pleaser. The film became one of only three to win all five major awards (Picture, Director, Actor, Actress, Screenplay), the other two being It Happened One Night and One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest. An emotional moment in Oscar's history took place when actor Christopher Reeve, who played Superman, made his first appearance at the 1996 Awards after his paralyzing horse riding accident. In 1998 Italian actor Roberto Benigni won 'Best Actor' for Life Is Beautiful and leaped over chairs to accept the award. Halle Berry's 'Best Actress' award for Monster's Ball in 2002 made her the first Black woman ever to win the prize, making her define the moment as 'so much bigger than me.'  Two other Black actors had won the Oscars before 2002, Sidney Poitier for 'Best Actor' for Lilies Of The Field, and Hattie McDaniel, the first Black actress to be nominated and win the award for her leading role in Gone with the Wind. On that same night, Denzel Washington followed on Poitier's steps. Berry found herself center stage again in 2003 when she was surprised by 'Best Actor' winner Adrien Brody's kiss after presenting him with the award. In 2017, the year of the 'Envelopegate,' Gary Coe and his fiancée were part of a group strolling on Hollywood Boulevard, where they were invited to the Oscars by host Jimmy Kimmel. The audience's fellow American immediately became a meme, and the hashtag #GaryFromChicago gained 15 minutes of fame. After the media unraveled his past, however, Coe was exposed as a two-day released felon who had been sentenced to life in prison for stealing perfume from a department store in 1997, his third strike, which under California's law carries a mandated sentence of 25 years to life. One of Coe’s prior convictions was for attempted rape, committed when he was 18, in 1975. 

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[Controversies.]

The Oscars continue to be a significant event in the film industry, attracting millions of viewers worldwide. However, the show has not been free of controversies. A few marked the 2000's Red Carpet. Angelina Jolie's kiss with her brother was perceived by many as inappropriate. Additionally, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, were high on LSD and donned replicas of J.Lo's iconic Grammy's and Gwyneth Paltrow's Oscars dresses.

When Billy Crystal hosted the Oscars in 2012, his opening included a pre-filmed skit parodying the 'Best Picture' nominees where he had played Sammy Davis Jr. in blackface, which he had done several times on Saturday Night Live in the '80s. Still, that year, he received criticism on social media. In 2013, Seth MacFarlane's opening number 'I Saw Your Boobs,' outraged viewers who noted on social media that many of the women named in the song, from Jodie Foster in The Accused and Halle Berry in Monster's Ball to Angelina Jolie in Gia and Charlize Theron in Monster were in movies related to rape.

In 2015 and 2016, the lack of diversity among the nominees for significant acting categories at the Oscars became more evident than ever. The realization sparked the social media campaign #OscarsSoWhite, which resulted in many actors and filmmakers boycotting or criticizing the Academy. ​Spike Lee, interviewed shortly after the all-white nominee list was published, pointed to Hollywood leadership as the root problem, saying 'We (black actors) are not in the room.' In 2022, Michelle Yeoh was the first Asian woman nominated for 'Best Actress' in over 85 years for her role in Everything Everywhere All at Once. She followed biracial actress Merle Oberon, who was nominated for the 1935 drama The Dark Angel.

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[Latest.]

In 2016, the Academy made apparent efforts to diversify its pool of voters in response to the #OscarsSoWhite controversy. Since then, membership has become younger and more diverse, increasing the number of people of color and women. However, in 2018, the Oscars' telecast viewership plummeted 19% from the previous year, making it the least-viewed Oscars broadcast in history. This was due to the shift towards subscription streaming services and the impact of the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements, which led to the publication of allegations against disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein, including three accusations of rape, and his subsequent sentencing to 20 years in prison. In a statement, the Academy said governors voted to expel Weinstein 'not simply to separate ourselves from someone who does not merit the respect of his colleagues but also to send a message that the era of willful ignorance and shameful complicity in sexually predatory behavior and workplace harassment in our industry is over.' Bill Cosby and Roman Polanski in 2018, and Adam Kimmel, in 2021 also got banned from the Academy when found guilty of sexual crimes and sentenced to prison. In addition to the movements 'Time's Up' and 'Me Too,' and diversity, the conversation that started in 2016 has expanded to include salary inequality. When accepting her Oscars, actress Frances McDormand ended her speech with a practical suggestion that could lead to real money for people of color, women of all races, and other underrepresented groups in Hollywood: 'I have two words to leave with you tonight ... inclusion rider.' In 2021, the Oscars attracted only about 10 million viewers, less than half of the 23.6 million from the previous year and only a quarter of the 40 million from the 2010s. Five days after his onstage slap of comedian Chris Rock, one of the 94th Academy Awards presenters, actor Will Smith announced his resignation from the Academy on April 1, 2022.  For the first time since 1961, the 2023 Academy Awards rolled out a champagne-colored carpet instead of the traditional red, which returned to its world-recognized color in 2024.

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