Danielle Solzman
Four categories are among those to have gotten the boot from the 91st Oscars ceremony according to a report in The Hollywood Reporter.
Among these four categories are editing, cinematography, live-action, short, and makeup/hairstyling. This is completely unacceptable to cinephiles such as myself. It’s completely unfair to the nominees, winners, and those people who will be inspired by just one speech to enter the industry.
I did a series of interviews with a few of the cinematography nominees. While this piece has yet to run, it would be a shame for those nominees to be disgraced by the Academy. While many of us referred to the stunt that was Best Popular Movie as being nothing but the Disney Award, this stunt is a slap in the face.
Here’s how important editing is: it’s seemingly hard to take home Best Picture without winning Best Editing. Here’s Anna Dimond writing in Variety in December 2013:
Since editing became an Oscar category in 1934, only nine films have won best picture without at least a nomination for editing; the last was 1980’s “Ordinary People.” Of the 61 films that have won best picture Oscars since 1952, 32 have won the editing statuette as well.
There have been five Oscar telecasts since publication. In this time, none of the five films winning editing would also take home best picture. Who knows what will happen this year? One thing that is certain is that we will not be watching it live.
For those of us covering the ceremony from afar, we won’t have the same liberty of hearing the winners before their shown on TV. This is because of the four winners being announced during commercial breaks. Those of us live-tweeting during the broadcast and updating our sites will be at a severe disadvantage unless we’re actively checking Twitter during the ceremony. I’ll have the same policy during the ceremony as I have during other awards shows in that I won’t check main Twitter until the broadcast is over.
Earlier rumors suggested that eight categories would not be presented during the live broadcast. While today’s news brings a lesser blow, it’s still a blow nonetheless. It’s a shame that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences have chosen to spruce up the broadcast for ratings. The people that are not going to watch the Oscars were never going to watch the Oscars. I’m sorry but facts are facts.
In a perfect world, the Academy would reconsider. What they are doing is completely unfair. It’s blasphemy. All in the name of a shorter telecast. It’s an epic fail on their part. We know this already because they’ve chosen to forgo a host. Please reconsider and #PresentAll24. If you’re not going to do it for the fans, please do it for the nominees. They don’t deserve such disrespect. They deserve their moment of glory. A moment that won’t be treated with such blatant disregard for their work.
