美国国家公共电台 NPR Changes Are Coming To The Oscars

Changes Are Coming To The Oscars

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced a new Oscar category today. Starting with the 2019 awards, which will honor movies released this year, there will be a prize for outstanding achievement in popular film. The Academy also announced other changes to its telecast, like keeping it to a trim three hours. And here to talk about this with us for a trim three minutes is NPR's Glen Weldon. Hi, Glen.

GLEN WELDON, BYLINE¹: Hey, Ari.

SHAPIRO: Why do we need a new category for popular movies?

WELDON: We don't really, but the Academy does. The Academy is interested in eyeballs. All three of the changes that they introduced today are about getting more people to watch the telecast, which is a little surprising. Why does the Academy care about that? Because at least some portion of their operating expenses comes from selling TV rights to that broadcast.

SHAPIRO: And the last Oscars were, like, the least watched of all time or something like that.

WELDON: Yeah. We've got to throw a caveat² in there. That's 26.5 million people. That's still...

SHAPIRO: Still pretty good.

WELDON: ...Still pretty good but about 20 percent down from the previous year. So they're worried, and they want more people to watch. And they want the people who love popular movies - like, say, "Black Panther" - to watch the telecast and have a rooted interest.

SHAPIRO: Except "Black Panther" is an interesting example 'cause I think many people expect it to be nominated for - I don't know - normal Oscars, like best picture maybe. So what's the difference between most popular movie and, like, best picture?

WELDON: Well, that's the thing. Whatever they do, it's going to be seen as an also-ran - whoever is nominated for this category. And what does popular mean? Are they going by box office numbers? Because, yes, there's a very good chance that "Black Panther" - it's a great movie - could be nominated. But I think they're trying to account for the fact that it might not be.

SHAPIRO: So there's going to be 10 best picture nominees³, plus most popular film or whatever they're calling it (laughter) nominees. There's going to be a lot of love, but it's not all going to make the telecast.

WELDON: Right. That's the other thing. So they're going to just keep barreling on, giving out awards all night long, in an effort to keep it to a trim three hours, as you said...

SHAPIRO: (Laughter).

WELDON: ...Which means that they're going to keep giving out awards during the commercials. And they haven't said which categories they're going to shunt to the commercials.

SHAPIRO: But you can guess - the less popular ones.

WELDON: If you are a sound editor in Hollywood, you might want to be preparing mentally right now and...

SHAPIRO: Right.

WELDON: ...Managing your family's expectations 'cause you're probably going to get shunted to the commercials.

SHAPIRO: But if you're sitting in the Dolby Theatre, it's just going to look like one big show. Some of the show will just be during the commercials then.

WELDON: And they will edit those speeches and slip them into the broadcast at some point.

SHAPIRO: Can you give me an example of a film that might be in the running for a popular movie that would never even be considered for one of the other Oscar categories?

WELDON: Let's see. "The Avengers" films, for example. Now, they're a quality film. They do exactly what they set out to do. It's not the kind of thing that the Academy has historically awarded.

SHAPIRO: Or I recently saw "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again." Probably not likely to get honored at the Oscars, but maybe in the popular film category.

WELDON: In a perfect world, it would get nominated for an Oscar...

SHAPIRO: (Laughter).

WELDON: ...'Cause it's a great, fun movie. But, no, it's exactly the kind of thing that the Academy would snub. And a lot of people wouldn't even consider it snubbing. They would consider it rightly ignored. But, yeah, this is an attempt to account for that. It does feel a little cynical⁴. It does feel pandering⁵, but this is the way of the world.

SHAPIRO: This is Hollywood.

WELDON: This is Hollywood.

SHAPIRO: What is Hollywood if not cynical and pandering?

WELDON: (Laughter).

SHAPIRO: That's Glen Weldon of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. Thanks a lot.

WELDON: It was an honor just to be nominated.

(SOUNDBITE OF HARRY EDISON, BOB ENEVOLDSEN, HERB GELLER AND LORRAINE GELLER'S "HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD")

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 caveat   

n.警告； 防止误解的说明

参考例句：

• I would offer a caveat for those who want to join me in the dual calling.为防止发生误解，我想对那些想要步我后尘的人提出警告。
• As I have written before,that's quite a caveat.正如我以前所写，那确实是个警告。

3 nominees   

n.被提名者，被任命者( nominee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• She's one of the nominees. 她是被提名者之一。 来自超越目标英语 第2册
• A startling number of his nominees for senior positions have imploded. 他所提名的高级官员被否决的数目令人震惊。 来自互联网

4 cynical   

adj.(对人性或动机)怀疑的，不信世道向善的

参考例句：

• The enormous difficulty makes him cynical about the feasibility of the idea.由于困难很大，他对这个主意是否可行持怀疑态度。
• He was cynical that any good could come of democracy.他不相信民主会带来什么好处。

5 pandering   

v.迎合（他人的低级趣味或淫欲）( pander的现在分词 )；纵容某人；迁就某事物

参考例句：

• This magazine is criticized for pandering to the vulgar taste of some readers. 这家杂志因迎合某些读者的低级趣味而遭到批评。 来自辞典例句
• We're four points up there; we don't need to get hit for pandering. 我们在那儿领先四个百分点；我们不必为了迎合一些选民而遭受批评。 来自电影对白