All things considered, the upcoming Oscar season has one of the most exciting, uncertain line-ups in decades. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the rules have changed drastically and will include streaming films for the first (and likely only) time in the ceremony's history. As a result, nobody really knows what's about to happen or if the Fall will return to normal and make this whole exercise moot. With that said, there's still room for some new rules to be put into place, including one that hasn't been seen in eight years. That's right. After years of existing on a sliding scale of 5-10 nominations, The Academy has voted to go back to a solid 10 nominees, if just to guarantee a more diverse Best Picture line-up. After all, they need that more than ever right now and this looks like a good course correction.
If there is one thing that has been divisive over the past decade of Oscar voting, it's the Best Picture category. In just a few years, the category shifted radically from its more traditional five-slot nomination structure to a sliding scale that was, frankly, a mess. While it was exciting to see how many Best Picture nominees we'd get in any given year, it was also disappointing to know that we wouldn't have a consistent total. It was terrible to think that because of some mathematical hooey in the voting there wouldn't ever be a 10 nominee total. In fact, there never was. Once they shifted over to the sliding scale, it's rarely been above eight. That's two whole positions that could've been filled by any nominee.
Many have suggested that it could've gone to more diverse films like Carol in 2015 or If Beale Street Could Talk in 2018. That's a fair point, though there is no certainty that it wouldn't be more random and go to some Oscar-bait film, as was the case with 2011's Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. There is no guarantee that this plan will work, but there is other legislation being voted on to increase a diverse reputation. Considering that initiatives have been made since 2015 by former Academy president Cheryle Boone Isaacs to increase diversity in its voting group, this is a continuation of a great plan that has produced some of the most interesting winners in modern Oscar history, including most recently with the Parasite Best Picture win.
There is a whole irony of the fluctuating pattern with the Best Picture field. Back in 2008, there were complaints that The Academy only awarded stuffy prestige dramas. This lead to the films of 2009 having the chance to compete in a field of 10. Between 2009 and 2010, this was successful in recognizing the diversity of GENRE, and for a while, that was the easiest fix to the Oscars. If anything showed how audiences saw The Oscars at the start of the decade, it's that there was more of a need for sci-fi and fantasy to compete fairly against dramas and biopics. That was represented when the sliding scale was put into effect, but as the film discussion has evolved, it's been revealed that the voices behind the camera were just as important as whatever field they were designed for.
This was because of 2015 with the Oscars So White movement that found people complaining that there wasn't a diverse group of nominees in the biggest categories. Isaacs pushed for change, and that's lead to a pretty impressive group of winners and nominees. Though change still needs to continue to be made. It's clear that having a sliding scale format limits the number of nominees, who maybe miss the cut by a fraction of a percent. The Oscars have always favored the "last in line, first in mind" approach, as evident by the abundance of nominees from the Fall season. While there have been some exceptions, this hasn't been totally abandoned. It's doubtful that it ever will, but having a 10 nominee field can at least try to reflect those one or two masterpieces from before October.
For all of the good that has been accomplished by The Academy in the past decade, the sliding scale has been a big mess for most years. After all, it makes no sense to not have a complete roster of nominees because every year should have enough quality films to compete in any given field. What limiting fields have done is make The Academy more boring, showing how they exclude voices when what they have been pushing for is the exact opposite. Given that this past year saw the most diverse body of winners yet, it's a great move making things formatted, where that one smaller film stands a better chance of getting the Oscar recognition that can boost their creative profiles.
I for one am excited to see them return to the 10 nominee field because I like the uniform structure, as well as the fact that it accomplishes what The Academy has been trying to do for 11 years: recognize more diverse films. After all, this is an award that recognizes what's great in cinema from the WHOLE year, and it's doubtful that there's ever only eight or seven films worthy of consideration. After all, most people post their Top 10 at the end of a year. Why not let The Academy do the same? The conversation has become more enlightening and interesting since it became more diverse, and one can hope with these new changes that it will bring with it a 2021 season that is exciting (2020 has been excluded from these rules, which should make the death of the sliding scale much more interesting).
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