Yes, Critics Are Thinking About the Oscars.

I wasn’t going to address this since it has already taken up way more bandwidth than it requires, but since I was name-checked in this column by Alonso Duralde at the Wrap I will answer it.

He writes:

This month, there have been many on Film Twitter and elsewhere who seem not to understand that while film critics and Oscar-minded entertainment journalists both write about contemporary movies, the similarities end there. To extend Altman’s metaphor: Some people are reading the tea leaves of critics’ awards for clues about the Oscars, while critics are drinking coffee.

As a member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association for more than 20 years, I can safely say that handicapping the Academy Awards is probably the last thing on our minds as we assemble each year to pick our own winners. If our tastes should happen to align with the Academy’s – over the past decade, both organizations chose “Spotlight,” “Moonlight,” and “Parasite” as the best picture of the year – well, that’s a fine coincidence. But at no time during my tenure has the group ever given an award in the hopes of boosting someone’s chances to walk the red carpet at the Dolby Theatre

Well, I know for a fact this isn’t true. Duralde might THINK this is true. He personally might not care about the Oscars, but critics as a whole most certainly do. They micro-manage the Oscars now from soup to nuts. It’s so completely overtaken by film critics that it’s impossible for any organic film, like Spider-Man, say, to crack the consensus.

But first, let’s define what the word “critic” means. When I first started 20 years ago there were only a small handful of critics who were nonetheless important voices for their readers. Two of the most prominent of these were also very much into the Oscar race, influencing it, commenting on it, invested in the outcome. Roger Ebert who almost single-handedly brought the win in for Crash, and the LA Times’ Kenneth Turan who then shamed the Academy for their homophobia in the aftermath when Brokeback didn’t win. So even back then critics were most definitely invested in and influencing the Oscars.

But “critics” in 2022 are not like critics in 2005. For one thing, “critics” mostly comprise Film Twitter. They have created a hive mind online and that has made them their own insular group and they have become, as a whole, very much the driving force that builds the consensus that ultimately shapes the Oscars. Despite all that, Film Twitter sees itself as “above” the Oscars, and some prominent film critics on Twitter feel the same way. They make the distinction, as Duralde does here, between silly little film awards and the high art of film criticism.

If that is how Duralde sees it, then there is no point in arguing with him. The reality is slightly different. The reason I “groused” about the column by Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott — with the headline “And the Winners Should Be” — was that, to me, they are having their cake and eating it too. They position themselves as not caring about the Oscars at all, then they turn around and position themselves and their taste as “above” the tastes of the people who write about the Oscars. That is what annoys me. It’s hypocrisy. It’s like someone saying they read Playboy for the articles. Just admit that you’re into it, or that your editors are forcing you to pretend to care. Either way, the end result is the same. It isn’t just about “bringing awareness” to movies people haven’t seen, it’s a way of saying “you’re doing it all wrong.” And for people who supposedly don’t care about the Oscars, that is annoying.

Film critics online have become an intimidating force. Many of them are bullies, in fact, who spend their time targeting someone and then dragging them into the public square for shaming. I myself have been at the center of many of these — whether it was criticizing the Bong Joon Ho fan base or criticizing Little Women or defending Ansel Elgort. And that’s just film-related. When it comes to politics I’ve been swarmed too many times to count, but when it’s Film Twitter it hurts more because those people should know better.

The most recent episode was when I tweeted about Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth and said something offhand about loving the production design and the cinematography but there is only so much you can do with actors reading Shakespeare. Okay, so it was a clumsy tweet. Had I not forgotten what Twitter was like I would not have posted it. But it didn’t mean that I thought the movie was bad, the acting was bad or that Shakespeare is bad. Quite the opposite. It’s an amazing work of filmmaking and acting – it is a brilliant rendering. And that is what I mean by “there is only so much you can do…” because to me no matter how good it is, how well acted or directed it always comes down to that one thing. It’s only an opinion. It just meant that for me personally listening to actors read Shakespeare has never been my cup of tea. I love reading Macbeth and I love reading Shakespeare but actors reading Shakespeare, especially the comedies, has always been a hard thing for me.

But you would have thought I had chopped off the heads of a hundred puppies for how Film Twitter responded to it. It was worse than the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan to them. It was World War III. It was the China Syndrome. It was DEFCON 1. They rallied the troops, they puffed up like angry pigeons and pecked away. There are some people on Film Twitter who aren’t bullies. It’s always shocking that they exist but they do. Plenty of them either stay silent and wait for the hideous display to be over, or they comment on it indirectly. They rarely enter the fray but some of them do.

All of the commentaries around this is always “you never accept accountability” or “you shouldn’t say things if you don’t expect replies” or “you shouldn’t be on Twitter.” All of that, to me, is like saying “what did you say to provoke him this time”? For anyone who has ever been in an abusive relationship or raised in an abusive home (as I have) you would know that you spend a lot of your time blaming yourself. What did I do this time? But guess what? That is excusing bullying behavior and shame on anyone for doing that.

There are a few of them who are relentless, who wait around for me to say something that they can screenshot and throw into the public sphere and watch the fire burn. Among those would be Glenn Kenny, Jason Bailey, and of course, Sean Burns who came up with:

400 likes. And I can promise you a good many of those are people who know me. Even people who have met me in person. That is what it is like on Twitter in general and Film Twitter specifically.

To them, I am a lowly Oscar blogger and they are high-minded critics. But to me, because so many of them participated in this bacchanal — that defines, at least partly, what has become of film criticism online. It has become a gang that can be intimidating to dissenting opinions. They have created, in their own way, a climate of fear. I know so many people who have become afraid to say what they really think for fear of being swarmed and dunked on.  My problem is that I can’t behave. I can’t keep quiet. So I’m easy pickings for hungry pigeons.

But isn’t it a shame that this is what has become of film criticism? A high school-like hive of the people who think they’re so much smarter than everyone else hanging out by the drinking fountain and waiting for some lesser person to walk by them and say something they think is stupid so they can follow them, mock them, call them out in front of everyone else. I don’t think it was ever meant to be whatever this is.

To them, they are of higher rank than I am. They see themselves as having more intelligence, more appreciation for film than I do. They’d have to, right? How else would they ever feel the confidence to render their opinion on work others risk their time and money to create. People like me who write about the Oscars, an “Oscar blogger” couldn’t possibly know anything about movies.

But all of that aside, I have watched film critics directly try to influence the Oscar race for years. I won’t name those names because all of us were in on it for way too long to bring the Oscars where they are now.

I’ll never forget the year it was Zero Dark Thirty vs. Argo and there was a direct effort to NOT choose Zero Dark Thirty because it had become an Oscars juggernaut. I recall the same dynamic playing out with 12 Years a Slave. The difference was that back then, in 2013, they weren’t what we like to call “woke.” Back then, they were annoyed with people like me advocating for black filmmakers to get attention and win Oscars. So they pushed back HARD against 12 Years a Slave once it was anointed out of Telluride.

And let’s not forget the Green Book vs. Roma year as film critics urged the Academy to pick Roma and came down hard on them when they picked Green Book. So yeah, whatever it is that defines film criticism now, they do care about the Oscars.

But I actually don’t care what Manohla Dargis and A.O. Scott like or thought was the best of the year or even what they think should win the Oscar. I have followed them and others for years. Their picks are interesting. Their reviews are better written than most online. I have nothing against them. I do chafe at their annual “and the winners should be” because they are the ones who claim to be above the game.

And anyway, I think the Oscars are now afflicted with too much influence from critics. Vive la difference. Critics should be critics. I would prefer the Oscars to be more focused on audiences. I used to believe, when I first started, that the Oscars could be improved by listening to the critics. But now I think they should split up. Get divorced. Take the kids every other weekend. The Oscars, and the film industry, should care more about what ticket buyers think than listen to people who get to see movies for free.

I used to have so much respect for film critics. I used to admire them and highlight their reviews. I admire anyone who can write well about movies. But in the end, I feel like Dennis Christopher in Breaking Away who finally gets a chance to race with the Italians but then sees what it actually means to compete with them. They play dirty.

So to hell with ’em. I didn’t like pretending to be from Italy anyway.

So yes, critics as they exist today, absolutely do care about the Oscar race. Maybe Alonso Duralde doesn’t care. I’m sure he doesn’t. The industry he works in has changed.