Award season has officially begun, with headlines featuring star-studded red carpets from prestigious events like the Grammys and Oscars — However, many question their credibility.
Over the past decade, these awards have gotten increasingly scrutinized. Issues of bias, representation, and even outright exclusion based on race or gender have come to the forefront of discussions.
Four years ago, racism within the recording academy was a common theme; The well-known artist; The Weeknd was a victim of this. The Weeknd’s, extremely successful album, Blinding Lights, received zero nominations which rightfully led him to be upset, causing a four-year-long boycott from him.
The recording academy has claimed to make efforts to increase reliability, such as attempting to increase diversity within the awards. After years of backlash, the Grammy voting process has made huge steps in the right direction.
There are now 13,000 voters who decide who wins these prestigious awards. The evolving voting body contains 66% new members, with over 3,000 women added to the board.
Although it is impossible to get completely unbiased opinions, these voters come from all different backgrounds within the music industry, leading to various opinions from these professionals.
As for the Oscars, many claim the academy is a prestigious white boys club. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) is a professional honorary organization composed of just over 9,900 voters. The academy memberships are divided into different branches, where each branch represents a different discipline in film production.
Following the recent Oscar nominations, it appears that some of the highest box office-performing films are not receiving their due recognition. Movies like Emilia Perez have extremely low fan scores, yet they are dominating all film awards.
As the conversations continue, it is clear that while award season may be a time of celebration, it is also a pivotal moment for reflection and accountability, as the most popular media reflects our culture
