Oscar the Ouch

There are few things more unappealing than the orgy of self-adulation one witnesses during a celebrity awards show.

Yes, the Oscar nominations are here, and America simply can’t afford to stand idly by anymore. Not after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences had the audacity to misleadingly claim that Brad Pitt had not only engaged in acting this past year, but that he was among the finest to practice the craft.

Absurdity of such scope is one of the reasons the Oscars continue to lose viewers and hemorrhage influence. Sometimes it seems the academy has a desire to disconnect from the average moviegoer. Last year’s Oscar telecast, accordingly, logged the show’s tiniest audience on record.

There are a number of problems at play. The most talented actors often star in movies that Americans don’t care very much about, while the movies we do care about all too often feature Leonardo DiCaprio. This toxic formula has set our expectations to tragic lows.

In the ’70s, audiences were treated to Oscar-worthy performances by DeNiro, Pacino, Nicholson and Hoffman — stars who were regularly involved in artistically meaningful films that could also draw crowds. These days, conversely, there is a movement afoot to convince us that the unsettling dullness of a Jake Gyllenhaal or a Mark Wahlberg is deserving of an Oscar rather than pubic scorn.

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