Why the Oscars Still Matter – and Why They Don’t | PRO Video

TheWrap’s editor-at-large Joseph Kapsch and film reporter Scott Mendelson discuss the shifting cultural impact of the Academy Awards

As the 95th Oscars approach Sunday, editor-at-large Joseph Kapsch and film reporter Scott Mendelson met over Zoom for a discussion about the cultural relevancy of the Academy Awards as an institution and as a ratings-friendly television broadcast.

In this spirited (but cordial… only one accidental four-letter word) back-and-forth on why the Oscars’ impact may have waned, Kapsch and Mendelson slightly disagree on the extent and reasons for the cultural shifts. But both parties agree that the worst thing the Academy could do is to recklessly chase permanently uninterested demographics at the expense of those who still give a darn about the Academy Awards and the movies they’re intended to celebrate.

Among the digressions are how Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun: Maverick” really did save domestic movie theaters last summer, whether the COVID pandemic permanently altered the nature of celebrity culture and why general audiences have been failing to practice what they preach in terms of inclusive mainstream theatricals — at least since Drew Barrymore’s “Whip It” in late 2009.

Watch the discussion above.

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