It has been a while since the fallout of the 91st Academy Awards. With many still mulling over the winners (notably the controversial Best Picture winner Green Book), it's important to look forward to what the future provides. In this case, Academy President John Bailey has released an annual change to the many voting rules for the 92nd Academy Awards. In almost every case, the rule changes are actually fairly exciting and look promising to the bigger picture. Whether it's changing the name of Best Foreign Film to Best International Film, or adding more nominees to Best Hair and Make-Up, the changes at least put the upcoming year on a more optimistic track and will hopefully embody a smoother year for all involved.
Among the more controversial elements of the 2018 Academy Awards was the presence of Netflix. While this wasn't their first year being nominated, it was the first of prominence, including winning Best Director for Alfonso Cuaron (Roma). Director Steven Spielberg also got involved with the debate over theatrical release models, though it was later revealed that his complaints were taken out of context. With all of that said, the fear that the streaming service giant would be ignored has gone unnoticed with this year's set of changes, which Bailey posted to The Academy's website earlier this week. The changes are mostly practical and reflect a changing voting body in more positive ways.
Among the most noteworthy element is the title change of Best Foreign Film to Best International Film. The letter shares how Bailey feels that "foreign" as an award title is dated and needed to be updated. This is among the smarter moves of this year's line-up if just because of how much stronger the word sounds. Much like the genre of world cinema, "international" feel more embracing and lacks any unnecessary connotation that may throw some off. Foreign always sounded like it was different in a bad way, and now international sounds like it connect to other cultures, which is more ideal to The Academy's modern ethos.
The other big announcement came in Best Hair and Make-Up, which will officially expand from three nominees to five. This has been a point of strong contention among Oscar prognosticators for decades now. This is mostly because of how strange it is to single out the category as an "other" when so much of the industry is defined by design elements. While there's still room to include nominees that use hair and make-up in more creative and innovative manners (what was so impressive about Darkest Hour again?), the expansion at least opens up the chance for those films to get nominated. Considering that Ruth E. Carter became the first African American to win the category for Black Panther this past year, it also is one of the most culturally diverse groups of nominees. It has the potential to reflect a wider variety of talent in ways that could give notice to important artists.
In Best Animated Film, there is no longer a limit on how many films are qualified for the category to open up. The rule of thumb was eight, but the new rule posits that there isn't a need for that many. Also, those within the branch can vote on short films. There's nothing terribly exciting about this rule, but it was another one of the changes made. There were other changes made, but these are the ones of most significance.
While The Academy had a rough season, there's hope that 2019's upcoming run will feature a stronger representation and discussion of talent and art. There's so much to love about the film, and these changes more than reflect what needs to be done in order to achieve them. While this isn't an endgame for rule fixes, it at least puts things on the right path. One can hope that this means that with the mistakes of last year now in the rearview mirror, that we'll all learn from them and make this upcoming season the best that it can be.
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