Oscars Lost on Younger Viewers

The Academy Awards is Hollywood’s annual celebration of the best films of the previous year.

As publicized as the event is, many potential viewers are not excited about the film industries biggest night.

According to the entertainment magazine Variety, the 2014 Academy Awards ceremony hit a 10-year high in viewership but fell relatively flat among the coveted 18-49-age bracket.

The Los Angeles times reported last week that the median age for Oscar viewers has risen from 42 in 1993 to 53 in 2012.

What is it about the Academy Awards that repels the younger demographic?

Many in the PCC community have their own opinions about the biggest night in show business.

Many believe there is a disconnect between the films that people are watching and the films that the Academy selects for judgment.

“The way people in this generation watches movies has changed,” says Eamon Conklin, Photo Lab Manager.

“In previous years, the only access had to movies was the theater. But now because of the Internet, younger people have access to smaller independent productions and the major award shows haven’t caught up yet.”

Many younger people don’t see the point of watching a three hour long ceremony when all of the highlights can just be recapped after all of the pageantry and the media frenzy has ended.

“You can just see all of the clips and highlights on social media sites, that’s what I did,” said Christie Butron, biology.

“I have a lot of things I could be doing over the span of three hours,” she said.

Butron also believes that the Academy has lost its touch when it comes to grabbing the attention of the average movie watcher.

“Some of the best movies I have ever seen have been independent films and the Oscars haven’t recognized them because they weren’t from major studios.”

James Lee, a film major, is another student that agrees that the Oscar presentation can’t hold up to the attention span of the modern day viewer.

“I feel as though it isn’t as accessible to younger viewers, I would rather watch the results on YouTube,” he says.

“The film industry doesn’t have the prestige that it once had, what the Academy recognizes and what people are watching aren’t necessarily the same,” said Lee.

The Academy Awards did manage to attract some new viewers this year that wanted to see what all of the fuss was about.

“I liked it, I usually don’t watch the awards and I wanted to see how it went,” said Sergio Herrera, theater arts.

Herrera says that people of todays generation have so many other distractions that the Oscars just don’t tend to appeal to them.

“Young people are too busy doing other things like socializing, school work and being employed. Many people don’t see the Oscars as being significant to their lives.”

Many believe that the Academy Awards will have to do a lot in order to be able to once again reach todays youth.

“It’s tough to change something that hasn’t changed in the last 80 years or so,” said Conklin.