I love movies. I really do. I watch one pretty much everyday, so the Oscars are usually something I get pretty excited about. I enjoy seeing my favorite movies of the year lined up for such big awards, and this year is no different.
The Oscars were last week, and there was so much talk on social media about who was going to win and who should or shouldn’t win whatever award.
I can’t stand all the discourse. This year felt worse than any other year.
Before the 2021 Oscar ceremony, the award show typically took place in February with the nominees announced in January. Ever since the pandemic struck, the ceremony has been pushed back to March with nominations announced in February.
Even though it’s just a month’s difference, it’s caused discourse to drag on longer than it should.
The previous two-month period where people talk and argue about what should win is now stretched by an extra month where people run out of interesting things to say about any movie. All disagreements devolve into throwing playground insults at anyone who disagrees with them.
Every time I logged into Twitter or TikTok, I saw a video with someone saying how only one movie deserved any awards and if they didn’t win, it’s a rigged show. I saw videos of people disliking an actor’s performance purely because they don’t like their personality outside of acting. I saw people talking down on other movies just because they hadn’t seen them.
It all clutters together to create such a tense and toxic internet environment.
There is a place for discourse over our favorite movies of the year, but awards season truly feels mind-numbingly annoying. Even though I rooted for people like Wagner Moura to win best lead actor, it was still great to see Michael B. Jordan win the award. That general sense of appreciation for every movie and performance should be the result of an awards show, but the only thing that has come out of the Oscars has been sore losers and winners complaining about what their favorite movie did or didn’t win.
I wish people wouldn’t belittle others purely for liking a movie like “Bugonia” more than something like “Sentimental Value”.
Practically every movie nominated for best picture is great in their own way, and I personally wasn’t going to be upset if any of them won — other than “F1” but I won’t get into that.
Every film had some sort of merit to it; there was no typical Oscar “villain” this year which made it such a unique competition. There were no “locks” for any of the acting categories, other than lead actress. Months prior, many believed “One Battle After Another” would be the easy prediction for best picture, but “Sinners” gained the momentum to genuinely give it a chance at winning the biggest film award of the year.
Most years, every category is predictable which makes for a boring lead up and payoff at the ceremony. 2026 had the potential to be the most exciting awards season we’ve had in years with the unpredictability of each category, but because of the extended time frame and a growing intensity among movie fans, it became unbearable.
The Oscars were made to celebrate the film industry, the artists who innovate, the actors who convince us, the films that change how we think, the performances that move us. Now it feels like the Oscars have become an excuse for people to argue and spew hate towards people who disagree with their opinion. It makes me embarrassed to like movies as much as I do, that I have to indirectly associate myself with people like that.
Movies as an art form should be bringing people together, yet the thing that’s supposed to celebrate them most divides people the most.
