Who Are The Oscars For?

Guest: Gabriel Rossman, PhD, Associate Professor of Sociology, UCLA College, University of California, Los Angeles 12 Years a Slave. Birdman. Spotlight. Moonlight. The Shape of Water. The last five winners of the Best Picture Academy Award were all critically-acclaimed films, but not one of them broke $200 million at the box office. Meanwhile mega-hits like any of the Star Wars or Marvel superhero movies usually only get minor Oscar nominations for things like makeup or special effects. Next year will be different because the Academy says it’s going to give out an Oscar for Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film, but the announcement has not gone over well in Hollywood.