People Are Calling The Oscars "A Joke" After They Just Made A Rule That Academy Members Now Have To Watch All Oscar Nominees Before Voting In Categories
"This honestly makes me question the integrity of previous Oscar wins."
The Academy just implemented a few new rules for the Oscars, and people are wondering why one in particular wasn't mandatory in the first place.
"Academy members must now watch all nominated films in each category to be eligible to vote in the final round for the Oscars," the official press release stated. This rule was confirmed on Monday by the group's Board of Governors.
Currently, proof that a film has been watched is tracked on Academy Screening Room — an internal service where voting members can screen titles.
"There is also a 'seen elsewhere' form that members will need to submit before finals voting," a statement sent to Entertainment Weekly read. "If you have not viewed a title, the award category will be inaccessible (greyed). For the specialty categories, we will still require viewing in prelims and noms as usual. For this year, we will now require viewing in finals voting for all categories and all voting members."
In its 97 years of existence, it was never a requirement for members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to watch all of the nominated films in a category before casting their vote. According to the Hollywood Reporter, members were asked not to vote if they hadn't reviewed all of the nominees. The process ultimately followed an "honor system."
Unfortunately, this isn't the first time we've heard similar rumblings about their unorthodox voting system. Anonymous voters have broken their silence in recent years, revealing their reason for leaving some films unwatched or even ignored completely.
"I'm bummed because I haven't seen The Substance or I'm Still Here yet. The first Dune, I couldn't get through; I'm not rushing for another three hours of Dune. There's still time to re-evaluate, but I really struggled," one director told Entertainment Weekly.
While a casting director added, "I haven’t seen The Brutalist yet. I’m planning to see it, and from what little I saw [already], it’s similar to The Pianist, and [Adrien Brody] already got his Oscar for that. So, maybe someone else deserves a chance [for Best Actor]."
This is really disturbing, and I'm really surprised their voting system has been able to thrive for so long without causing a stir in Hollywood. The bias and disregard in those anonymous quotes is alarming. It also makes me wonder if actors were fully aware of what was happening behind the scenes before attending the Oscars every year.
I'm sorry, if I put my blood, sweat, and tears into a project, submitted it for consideration for an Academy Award, attended the prestigious ceremony, lost in the category, and then ultimately found out that the people in charge of voting didn't even watch my project, I'd be pissed.
But I'm not alone in this. People online had a lot to say about this new rule as well: