‘And the Winner is…’
A short history of the Oscars and a discussion about who’s in the running to win an award this year.
Cameras flash, people cheer, and speeches will be happily given by directors, actors, tech designers, and everyone else who puts hard work into making a hit movie that people will remember for years to come.
On March 10, the 96th official Academy Awards ceremony is being held. At the event more commonly known as the Oscars, many actors, actresses, directors, and animators will receive the golden statue of a man holding a sword, representing a crusader of the famed Hollywood industry. The Oscars even inspired other events, such as the Grammys, The Golden Globes, and the Emmys. But how did this event even come to be what it is today, and why is it so popular? How did the first Oscar ceremony come to be? Who has won the most Oscars overall, and who’s in the running to win them this year? The history of the Oscars is more business-related than you might think.
In the late 1920s, Louis B. Mayer came up with the Oscars as a “rewards system” to keep actors from unionizing and quitting their jobs. He and a few other important people in the movie industry formed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, who still host the Oscars today. The first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16th, 1929, at a private dinner function at The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, with an audience of about 270 people. The ceremony lasted no longer than 15 minutes, and only cost five dollars to enter. The event was such a success that they decided to do this type of event annually, improving the show each year. Originally, there were only 12 categories for awards, but that amount has now doubled to 24, some categories including best picture, best director, and best documentary. Walt Disney himself takes the title as the person to win the most Oscars, with 22 awards under his belt.
This year, popular movies such as “Barbie”, “Oppenheimer”, and “Killers of the Flower Moon” have all been nominated for potential Oscars; while actors Ryan Gosling, Lily Gladstone, Cillian Murphy, and Robert Downey Jr. Directors Christopher Nolan and Martin Scorsese also have a chance to win the famed award on the night of the Academy Awards. What movies do you think will win an Oscar this year?