“They’re the closest thing America has to royalty” — it isn’t a monarchy, it isn’t a descendant of a Founding Father and it isn’t even a president. The closest thing America has to royalty are the stars crowned every year at the Academy Awards, anointed with the golden statuette that is the Oscar.
As film awards season begins to kick off, it’s easy to focus on the dazzling red carpet looks and root for your favorite movie. Yet, it’s also easy to miss how we have these awards in the first place. Who came up with the fashion-forward red carpet, which acts as an event before the event? Why is the Oscar called the Oscar? When did the Academy Awards start?
Michael Schulman details the history of the Academy Awards and more in his book “Oscar Wars,” a compelling read that captures the glitz and glamour of Hollywood without shying away from its darker corners.
The Academy Awards, also known as the Oscars, are considered the most prestigious awards for film achievement, but the creation of the event had nearly nothing to do with awards. The Academy Awards are put on every year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), which was founded in 1927 by Louis B. Mayer (of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios). The Academy started as a way to unite the motion picture community against federal censorship and to create a governing body to mediate labor disputes without involving unions.
The idea of “Awards of Merit” was spearheaded by Academy secretary Frank Woods, and this effort resulted in the first Academy Awards in 1929. The event was not broadcast, and the presentation of the awards took less than 10 minutes.
“Oscar Wars” details the journey the ceremony has taken from that very first event in 1929 to the 2022 ceremony, and everything in between.
It was enjoyable to read about points in history I was both familiar and unfamiliar with, as Schulman masterfully details the politics of the event, and how the machine that is the Academy carefully orchestrates it all.
I knew about the “La La Land”/“Moonlight” mixup – I watched it live on TV. But Schulman brings a new perspective, illustrating a play-by-play of how exactly the envelopes got switched.
Like much of the history in this book, Schulman’s writing makes the history more interesting and conveys the nuance present in many Academy-related events that would be difficult to understand otherwise.
From historic firsts in Sidney Poitier, to shameful eras with the Hollywood blacklist, to viral moments like “envelopegate” at the 2017 Oscars, Schulman doesn’t leave anything out when it comes to Hollywood history, which is the book’s strongest quality.
The level of detail was a bit more problematic when it came to the history of how Oscar campaigning really began. Oscar campaigning today involves movie studios spending large sums of money to sway Academy voters into voting in a particular way. The Academy Awards didn’t originally employ campaigning, and it has since turned the ceremony into a competition of who can spend more. This tactic is considered to have made the Oscars “dirty.” Who initiated these tactics? Harvey Weinstein.
Weinstein is a founder of the production company Miramax, and he is also a convicted sex offender known for using his clout as a producer to harass and assault women he worked with. It was difficult to read about a man like Weinstein, who was a mainstay in the movie industry for so long, and yet was so harmful to so many people.
However, I understand why his contributions were included in the book; he fundamentally changed the way production studios approach the Academy Awards. The complicated relationship the film industry and Academy has with these contributions reflects a larger trend, which Schulman explains well and with care.
Hollywood is not flawless, it is not innocent and it has routinely hurt a lot of people. But the Academy Awards has radically changed how creatives rise to power, influence our values and critique society as a whole.
The Academy started as a way to unite Hollywood creatives, and eventually turned into a politicking and power-grabbing force to be reckoned with. There are many moments in Hollywood’s history that could easily sour the book if not depicted delicately, but Schulman wrote those moments with all of their nuances in a way that was real and necessary.
The Oscars this year are on March 3, and if you’re planning on tuning in, consider reading “Oscar Wars” by Michael Schulman, which informs readers of what it really means to win the prize considered to be the pinnacle of the movie industry: The Oscar.
