"The Academy is paranoid about its image"
About this Quote
“The Academy is paranoid about its image” lands with Ebert’s signature mix of plainspokenness and a quietly sharpened blade. “Paranoid” is the tell: not merely cautious, not even strategic, but jumpy, defensive, forever scanning the room for threats. He’s not talking about a benign awards body; he’s diagnosing a brand manager with a trophy case.
Ebert’s intent is to puncture the reverent fog that tends to surround the Oscars. The Academy sells itself as the tasteful referee of cinema, an institution that rewards “quality” rather than commerce. Ebert’s line suggests the opposite: the Oscars are less an artistic verdict than a public-relations operation, constantly recalibrating what it wants to look like to America, to Hollywood, to history. That “image” isn’t just about glamour; it’s about legitimacy. If the Academy can be seen as out of touch, too white, too old, too snobbish, too populist, too political - any of it - the whole ritual starts to resemble what it always partly is: an industry awarding itself.
The subtext is that the Academy’s choices often function as reputation insurance. Nominations can read like a curated apology, a preemptive defense, a bid for relevance with changing audiences. Ebert, writing as a critic rather than an insider, is calling out the anxious theater behind the theater: the way “prestige” is staged, protected, and periodically rewritten so the institution never has to admit it’s just another player in the marketplace of attention.
Ebert’s intent is to puncture the reverent fog that tends to surround the Oscars. The Academy sells itself as the tasteful referee of cinema, an institution that rewards “quality” rather than commerce. Ebert’s line suggests the opposite: the Oscars are less an artistic verdict than a public-relations operation, constantly recalibrating what it wants to look like to America, to Hollywood, to history. That “image” isn’t just about glamour; it’s about legitimacy. If the Academy can be seen as out of touch, too white, too old, too snobbish, too populist, too political - any of it - the whole ritual starts to resemble what it always partly is: an industry awarding itself.
The subtext is that the Academy’s choices often function as reputation insurance. Nominations can read like a curated apology, a preemptive defense, a bid for relevance with changing audiences. Ebert, writing as a critic rather than an insider, is calling out the anxious theater behind the theater: the way “prestige” is staged, protected, and periodically rewritten so the institution never has to admit it’s just another player in the marketplace of attention.
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| Topic | Movie |
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