There were two significant things about the Academy Awards this year: one name that was surprisingly mentioned and one that was unsurprisingly not mentioned. Director Alfonso Cuaron said "Billy Wilder had a sign in his office that said 'How would Lubitsch do it?' and I have a sign that says 'How would Lubezki do it'" One could see the audience members looking at each other and saying "Billy Wilder, Lubitsch, who are they; who is he talking about?" This is an industry whose members sadly know little and care less about the history of film. They don't even seem to have lifetime achievement awards any more, the only way that some of the great film artists --Chaplin, Hitchcock, Cary Grant, Ennio Morricone --were ever recognized.
Meanwhile, director Bryan Singer, whose Bohemian Rhapsody won four Oscars, was mentioned by no one, presumably because of the accusations against him for sexual harassment. The Academy Awards have almost always been about uplifting and "serious" films, not about the quality of what is best, even if that could be determined. One too often hears that one should see such-and-such a film because it "won an Oscar" but few people even know what that means: the Academy membership is by invitation only and consists largely of white males over fifty, who are no longer required to see the movies on which they vote. It is about time to abolish the Oscars, which serve no useful, discernible purpose, except to bring television money to the useless and self-serving Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
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