As the Academy Awards approach turning a century old in the next few years, the disconnect between the Hollywood elite and the rest of America is more apparent than ever. This is most clearly demonstrated by the 13 nominations that Emilia Pérez received. The Spanish-language musical takes place in Mexico and centers on a male cartel leader that enlists a lawyer to help him transition into a woman and go into hiding. Despite the setting and language, the film was produced in France by a largely French crew, including writer and director Jacques Audiard. The film has received almost universal praise within the industry, including winning Best Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes.
While Hollywood praises the movie, the reception in Mexico and the LGBTQ+ community has been much more critical, ironically. The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) even called it “a step backward for trans representation.” The rest of the United States is either completely indifferent to the film, not even aware it exists, or outright negative, albeit for different reasons than GLAAD. The audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is 29%, while the critic reviews total a 76%. Globally, the film has only grossed roughly $10 million against a budget of $25 million.
This is just the latest in a long line of nominations by the Academy that demonstrate either an inability to understand what the majority of Americans enjoy in a movie. Either that, or they simply don’t care what normal Americans enjoy. Many are drawing comparisons between this film and 2004’s Crash, which also overtly pushed political ideology and was poorly received by the general public. There are more disparities between nominations and audience reception in this year’s lineup than just Emilia Pérez.
This is not the first year that the films dominating the nominations list are very different than movies that were well received by audiences. Most notably, Dune: Part Two only received five nominations, though it grossed over $714 million worldwide. This disconnect between the Academy and audiences has not always been the norm. One only needs to look back a couple of decades to see more unity between popular films and critical success. Titanic, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Gladiator, and The Godfather were all massive financial successes as well as best picture winners. While there was the occasional film that was a critical darling without audience appeal, there was uniform success much more often than our current state of affairs. In the last 10 years, the closest alignment in popularity and accolades was 2024’s Oppenheimer.
As the Hollywood elite moves further away from the American public in terms of taste, this has been clearly reflected in viewership and interest in the Oscars. Since 2000, the viewership of the Academy Awards ceremony has dropped by over 50%. Some of this drop off could be attributed to the impending death of broadcast television and the rise of streaming. However, the most marked decrease has been just over the last 10 years, and could be related to the increasing political and taste divide.
The Academy has made small attempts to gain wider appeal. They increased the number of films in the Best Picture category to 10. This is likely to try to give room to nominate more mainstream films, almost as a consolation. They also tried to create a “Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film” category, which was never fully instituted due to internal industry criticism. It should be noted as well, that the Academy is not the same as the executives and studios that are creating the films. Often studios will try to straddle the line between mainstream appeal and critical acclaim by producing different styles of movies. In the end, studios care about profit and ROI, and that usually means pursuing any type of attention they can.
If the trend continues its downward momentum, it will be interesting to see what the Academy does to adjust, if they do at all. Regardless, this year’s awards are trending toward another decrease in public interest. Below are the best picture nominations for the year.
ANORA — Alex Coco, Samantha Quan and Sean Baker, Producers
THE BRUTALIST — Nominees to be determined
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN — Fred Berger, James Mangold and Alex Heineman, Producers
CONCLAVE — Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell and Michael A. Jackman, Producers
DUNE: PART TWO — Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Tanya Lapointe and Denis Villeneuve, Producers
EMILIA PÉREZ — Nominees to be determined
I'M STILL HERE — Nominees to be determined
NICKEL BOYS — Nominees to be determined
THE SUBSTANCE — Nominees to be determined
WICKED — Marc Platt, Producer
