By Abigail Olear

The Oscars: surrounded by glitz and glamor, the best of the movie industry come together to celebrate the accomplishments of the last year. The awards are coveted by any aspiring actor or filmmaker, but are they lost on the general public?

The 95th Academy Awards were held Mar. 12, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California. Hosted by late night star Jimmy Kimmel, the broadcast gathered celebrities in their Sunday best from Malala Yousafzai to Austin Butler and even the Cocaine Bear to celebrate 2022 film releases.

Through its highs (Halle Berry and Michelle Yeoh’s groundbreaking wins, Parasite winning Best Picture in 2020) and lows (the infamous slap, the 2017 Best Picture envelope mix-up) the Academy is  regarded by many as one of the most prestigious institutions in the United States.

Despite these high praises, Oscars viewership has declined in recent years. In 2020, viewership hit an all-time low with just 10.4 million tuned in. In its prime, the awards garnered 55 million viewers in 1998. In 2023, viewership has recovered with 18.87 million viewers, but it is nowhere near where it once was. Have the Oscars lost their appeal?

Gen Z in particular has either lost, or never even taken interest in, the Academy Awards — and the viewing habits of students at the University of Maryland reflect this trend. UMD junior journalism major Erica Javadpour feels out of touch with the films included in the award show.

“I feel like I always know when there’s a release that people are excited about, and half of these movies I feel like I didn’t hear about,” Javadpour said. “And then movies that I feel like I’ve heard people love, I don’t see [included in the awards].” 

Students expressed that they would have liked to see movies like “The Batman,” “The Menu,” “Nope,” “Bullet Train” and other fan-favorite movies highlighted at the award show. 

While some of Gen Z simply does not care enough about movies to tune into the awards, Jacob McInturff, a junior computer science student, has a strong distaste for the event.

“The Oscars itself is an outdated, meaningless and soulless event that frankly, I don’t think can get the younger generation to care more about,” McInturff said. “I say they [the awards] go out in the same way their perpetrators will; a slow, painful and utterly boring descent into irrelevancy and the abyss that follows.”

The complaint that the Oscars are outdated is common among its opposers. In previous years, the awards have been criticized for its nominees being composed mainly of white men. Even though senior computer science major Seth Treiman enjoys the awards, he still recognizes that change is long overdue.

“The academy is definitely a little bit behind, whether that’s bureaucracy or whether that’s just the academy being problematic,” Treiman said. “But I think as a society, it [the Academy] should be held more accountable, given that it’s kind of like the end all be all when it comes to entertainment.”

Treiman does see the Oscars taking steps towards a more inclusive broadcast as they have taken suggestions from the public to improve the show and have introduced diversity standards into their nomination process.

So, how can the Oscars appeal to a younger audience? Freshman criminology and criminal justice and psychology major Ashley Weidner thinks focusing on the people, rather than the films is the answer.

“When actors have serious fanbases, those fanbases will watch the certain program simply because the actor is in it. I can attest to this, I do this myself,” Weidner said.

She doesn’t believe that the awards should change entirely to grab the attention of Gen Z, but believes highlighting influencers popular with younger audiences would keep viewers of all ages interested.

Treiman thinks a better marketing strategy, such as using TikTok, would help reach a broader audience. “If you grow up not watching it [the awards], then something has to change in you to watch it. Whereas if they changed their marketing, then that’s a change they can do,” he said.

With a steady decline in viewership and a rapidly changing media landscape, will the Oscars find a way to stay relevant? Only time will tell.

Featured image: UMD student Lea Glaser watches “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” one of the few films students recognized among Oscar nominees. Photo by Abigail Olear,