The future of awards season
The 2023 Golden Globes saw The Fabelmans pick up the Best Drama Motion Picture prize, positioning it as one of the frontrunners for the film awards season. Yet while the Steven Spielberg movie is a critical darling, it’s failed to make much of an impact at the box office. Perhaps more significantly, just 4% of Americans (and 14% of those who’d watched it) surveyed ahead of the Golden Globes felt The Fabelmans should win the best picture award, with 21% thinking that Top Gun: Maverick should win the top gong (rising to 39% among those who’d seen it). The divide between the public’s tastes and critical praise has grown more pronounced since the pandemic. This, combined with plunging viewership and persistent complaints about a lack of diverse nominees, emphasises how these spectacles are removed from people’s expectations of media and entertainment. While the introduction of gender-neutral categories may help make these events more inclusive, especially as more high-profile actors and musicians identify as non-binary, the fact that the 2023 Brit Awards’ best artist shortlist featured no women shows how systemic issues may invite more controversy. However, a move to streaming platforms has the potential to reignite interest in televised awards ceremonies. Indeed, as evidenced by the 2022 Game Awards, which drew ten times as many viewers as the Oscars, the awards show format isn’t dead. The challenge for the film and TV industries is to overcome existing systemic issues while understanding what appeals to audiences in these spaces – the ability to interact with fellow viewers in real time and celebrate shows and movies together.
