The Oscar Nominee List Changes

It has been common for observers of the Academy Awards to remark how more than before the serious candidates for the more prestigious--the Directing, Acting, Writing and of course Best Picture--awards, are often little-seen, relatively obscure films (Oppenheimer an extreme exception, and thus far no sign of a new trend). Less remarked is how we see more foreign-language films make the list--and one might add, more made-for-streaming films that get a theatrical release in the hopes of topping off revenue from and increasing interest in them in their primary medium. (Consider the Best Picture nominees. The South Korean feature Parasite won at the 2020 ceremony, while the winner in 2022 was a remake of a Franco-Belgian film for Apple+--as four additional foreign-language films scored nominations in 2022-2024, two in the last year alone--Anatomy of a Fall and Past Lives.)

One can see this as a simple reflection of even a Hollywood accustomed to thinking of itself as the center of the cinematic universe becoming more cosmopolitan in a globalized era, and the ascent of streaming, but it arguably reflects the same trend as the obscurity of so many of the domestic feature films nominated for the Oscars--the way in which Hollywood's commercial strategy has made its bottom line-supporting films diverge ever more from conventional expectations of cinematic art leaving more room for foreign nominees, and streaming-oriented production, by default.

For those who value traditional cinematic art Hollywood does itself no credit here, but one can see this as a logical continuation of the evolution of audiovisual technology evident ever since television dealt its colossal blow to film. Indeed, considering how long ago that was (the 1950s), and how the film studios managed to keep people coming to the theaters as often as they have for as long as they have one may be impressed with the industry's resilience (if more with its commercial "achievement" than its artistic success or integrity). Still, with their options long dwindling and seemingly proving less effective in recent years (especially if the tentpoles are proving less reliable draws than before), the game appears to be drawing to its close. The fact does not mean the end of film, just a change for where and how we watch them--even if, admittedly, what has remained of the romance of the old theatrical experience goes in the process.