Go woke, Go broke. TFI has time and again reminded our readers how wokeism has become a menace and will lead to anti-evolution. Some of you might have understood the repercussion of rapidly increasing wokeism. But the west clearly does not recognise the negative impact of wokeism. While many brands and organisations have received flak from the people for their ‘woke’ agendas, The Oscars are also on their way to losing their credibility and importance. Let me tell you, why?
Oscars too fell for the ‘woke’ trap
There was a time when every film industry across the world used to look forward to winning an Oscar or at least, getting nominated. It was considered a milestone in every filmmaker’s and artist’s journey. Such was the importance of the Oscars that when an 82-year-old Charlie Chaplin was given a 12-minute ovation at the 1972 awards, the entire world cheered. Moreover, when Marlon Brando dispatched a Native American to reject his trophy for The Godfather in 1973, the world scratched its head.
However, in the last few years, the Oscars seemingly have lost their credibility. All thanks to its ‘woke’ approach. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ has stepped in with an initiative to make Hollywood more diverse and equal, or you can say, more woke. It has changed the requirements for films to be eligible for Best Picture nominations.
Beginning in 2024, producers will have to submit details of the race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability status of members of their movie’s cast and crew, as per the new rules. If the movie does not have enough people of colour or disabled people or gays or lesbians working on the set, then the movie will no longer be eligible for an Oscar.
An industry insider sneered, “I mean, why aren’t animals in this? What if the main character is a horse?”
While you may think that the Oscars are being criticised only for its newly inducted rule, there are many other reasons which have raised eyebrows in Hollywood. Earlier in February, Oscar organizers were caught up in the controversies of a civil war in Hollywood. This civil war took place over a plan to pre-record and not present live many of the below-the-line categories—film editing, makeup and hairstyling, original score, production design, short-film selection.
Will Smith controversy
Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars 2022 programme, that too when it was live streaming. Will Smith lost his temper and slapped Rock after the latter while presenting an award, pointed to Will’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith and made fun of her shaved head with a G.I. Jane 2 comment. This angered the ‘King Richard’ star and thus he went onto the stage and slapped the comedian.
According to a report in The Guardian, when the live stream was on a quick break, Denzel Washington took Will Smith to the side. He was ‘kneeling with his arm around Jada Pinkett Smith’.
A few minutes after the incident, Will was announced as the Best Actor award for King Richard. While receiving the award, he issued an apology to the Academy and his fellow nominees. He said, “I want to apologize to the Academy. I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees. This is a beautiful moment and I’m not crying for winning an award. It’s not about winning an award for me. It’s about being able to shine a light on all of the people.”
Viewers upset as Oscars go ‘woke’
The fate of the Oscars is really doubtful. Last year’s Academy Awards could gain only 10.4 million viewers. It could not even make it to the top 100 most-watched TV broadcasts of 2021, after years of popularity. The awards have also been condemned by the critics over lack of diversity after all 20 acting nominations in 2015 and 2016 went to white actors.
Read more: Wokeism is anti-evolution
Actor Seth Rogen reported, “I don’t care who wins the automobile awards. No other industry expects everyone to care about what awards they shower upon themselves. Maybe people just don’t care. Maybe they did for a while and they stopped caring. And why should they?”
It is being condemned because of the Oscars’ so-called “wokeness.” The Academy Awards, for a long time, has been used as a platform for ‘woke’ causes. Be it Marlon Brando’s protests for Native American rights or Vanessa Redgrave’s support for Palestine in the 1970s or more recently, issues of MeToo, systemic racism, mass incarceration, LGBTQ rights, animal suffering and climate change, the academy award has ended up being a platform for ‘woke’ agendas only.
Thus, once the ‘gold standard’ for global cinema, the academy awards are nothing to anyone now.