The 98th Oscars are happening this week. The BBC News podcast THE GLOBAL STORY, this week, carried an Oscar-focused episode. The title was (Watch it now), “Oscars 2026: What the Academy Awards say about Hollywood today” is subliminal to a large extent.
Asma Khalid hosts the show and interviews Tom Brook, a journalist with the BBC for just over 50 years, and a specialist in the American Movie industry. They highlighted many key issues that were pluses for the Oscars as we know it, as well as others that were concerning. When the movie Titanic came out and won Best Picture, they reported that 50 million people tuned in. Last year, it seemed as if only 18 million viewers watched it. Tom suggested that historically, the large viewerships of the past were linked to the cultural relevance of the stories that were box-office successes. In contrast, he suggested that today’s viewers are more drawn to the social stories that may be affecting a film, it’s actors, or the industry on a whole grappling with geo-political events here in the US as well as in the Middle East.
Another way of putting it is that the Oscars are visibly demonstrating signs of fighting to survive despite the appearance of success. The reporting suggests that over 20% of the management structure of the Oscars organization is based internationally. Historically, this is unheard of but indicates a desire for international cultural appeal and respect versus the traditional all out show of American cultural dominance through the eyes of the wealthy white male movie executives. America is about 3.6% of the global population. This means that the other 96.4% of the world represent a sales market that is worth keeping if it means learning to adapt.
But it has not been easy in this geopolitical atmosphere for celebreties to add their voices to calls for peace and fairness with regard to global conflicts. In America right now, the Government has made it clear that it does not like to be criticized and is willing to explore retribution.
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