Oscars and the American Dream no more?

I woke up on the morning of March 11 and found my social media feed filled with clips from the Academy Awards.

I had no idea the Oscars was happening the night before. One brief look at the ratings for the Oscars also reflects that I was just one of many who forgot to catch the broadcast show. Statista highlighted that between 2000 and 2014, viewership consistently remained above 30 million, but since then, there has been a noticeable and accelerating decline. In 2023, the event managed to attract just 18.7 million viewers and this year, it rose just slightly to 19.5 million viewers. I can vaguely remember, even a decade ago, sitting in front of the television on a school night, trying to stay up for the full length of the show so that I could discuss the winners with my peers the next day. Today, this excitement has diluted to simply a morning discussion of whatever highlight persists through the night.

The Oscars, although a Hollywood creation, was never restricted to Americans. To a degree, it represented the American Dream interweaved with the rags to riches fantasy—if one just worked hard enough, they could also perhaps be one with the stars. The idea was relatable no matter where you came from.

However, as the pandemic tossed the world into economic turmoil, that glitzy image started looking more like a display of decadence and excess. Award shows like the Oscars, which were always a way for people to escape reality, used to have a touch of attainable glamour. The allure was just close enough, yet still out of reach, and that’s what kept the audience hooked. But now, with the majority of folks struggling to make ends meet and barely living paycheck to paycheck, the news of celebrities dropping millions on couture doesn’t have the same wow factor. Neither does the revelation that thousands of dollars are spent solely on gift bags for these stars. In 2023, reports showed these gift bags included a $25,000 credit for home renovations and a $40,000 luxury stay, along with other gifts totaling over $100,000. It’s a far cry from the relatable escape it used to be.

Including the unending wars, the recent Writers Guild of America strike, and increasing income inequality, the Oscars may seem merely a night of excess to many. Sasha Stone of AwardsDaily wrote in 2022, “The thing that is killing the ratings for the Oscars is that they have become insular, cliquish, and elitist. Everyone knows this, and yet few know what to do about it.”

The New York Times also released an op-ed the same year contending that people’s fascination with actors as default influencers has waned. “The possibility of a movie star as a transcendent or iconic figure … seems increasingly dated,” wrote opinion columnist Ross Douthat.

There remained stars that used the platform to shed light on some of the striking issues of the world such as Mark Ruffalo and Ramy Youssef who wore Artists4Ceasefire pins calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, and “Anatomy of a Fall” stars Milo Machado-Graner and Swann Arlaud who strutted the red carpet with Palestinian flag pins.

The most memorable moment of speaking out was Jonathan Glazer’s speech for the Best International Film Award for his Holocaust drama, “The Zone of Interest”: “We stand here as men who refute their Jewishness and the Holocaust being hijacked by an occupation which has led to conflict for so many innocent people. Whether the victims of Oct. 7 in Israel, or the ongoing attack on Gaza, or the victims of this dehumanization. How do we resist?”

However, all these protests seem subtle when compared to journalists and civilians risking their lives to convey messages of truth and strive for change. It feels a bit watered down when you think about it—the people with the most influence, and this is all they can or are willing to do.

Yet, simply relying on Nielsen’s numbers might not offer a comprehensive reflection of the Oscars’ popularity, given that the topic continues to trend on social media platforms. Clips of specific moments have gone viral, garnering millions of views, and here I am, discussing the Oscars as well. But, what has changed over time is the significance that the general public attributed to the event itself and the celebrities involved. People are now less captivated by Hollywood, the glamour, and its stars. There used to be a fascination with the “they’re just like us” factor, but it has become increasingly evident how out of touch majority of Hollywood elites are now.

One could say that all these years, Hollywood itself was being sold as a story. But it is now a story that not many people believe in. The pandemic successfully unveiled the American Dream to strip out its realities. This is not to say that people are done with movies. People still love movies, it’s the decadence and elitism that people no longer resonate with. The Daily Star/Asia News Network

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Tasnim Odrika is a contributing writer for one of the largest newspapers in Bangladesh, The Daily Star.

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The Philippine Daily Inquirer is a member of the Asia News Network, an alliance of 22 media titles in the region.