Summary: In this episode we discuss the Academy Awards with Raffi Sarkissian, Lecturer at Christopher Newport University, Virginia. Raffi has written about the long narrative created during the “award season” by creators, promotion strategists, the mainstream media etc. We discuss the emergence of the #oscarssowhite protest as a reflection of the industry's structural problems. However, since then, we have witnessed the industry attempting to course correct. Although this year has an unprecedented diversity of nominees, Raffi says, the #oscarssowhite problematic will continue to bubble under the surface. We also discuss the politics in and around Hollywood award ceremonies. Any award show is inherently political: whenever any institution decides what is considered “best," they are making a statement about their values and priorities. While Oscar once found explicit politics distasteful, more recent award shows have included multiple protests against the Trump Administration -- with Meryl Streep’s 2016 Golden Globes speech perhaps the most memorable. Other speeches, such as Viola Davis’. address struggles for inclusion and representation within the industry, not simply celebrating what has been accomplished but pushing for more progress. Even if many people do not recall who won last year's Oscars, the awards have a direct effect on who gets to create more films in upcoming years. Lastly, there are the politics of the broadcast itself: as they try to appeal to a bigger audience, who is in charge of the awards, and who are the Oscars for?
