Nobody Told the Oscars That the Madness Is Over

The glitterati party like it’s 2021

Peak woke has passed! DEI is getting defunded! The madness is behind us!

Each week brings new declarations that America is returning to a less insane time. We should acknowledge some new rays of light, but the sad truth is we’re still surrounded by darkness. Consider Sunday’s Academy Awards.

The ceremony opened with a land acknowledgement, host Conan O'Brien delivered the obligatory dig at Trump (one I think he deserves, but still), and the identity obsession still loomed large. Notes Lauren Smith, “Zoe Saldaña, who won Best Supporting Actress for Emilia Pérez, a musical about a transgender Mexican cartel boss, made sure to remind everyone that she was ‘the first American of Dominican origin to accept an Academy Award’.”

Witness the power of groupthink. The same Zoe Saldaña who got chewed up by the mob when she was supposedly not black enough to play Nina Simone, didn’t strike back. Instead, she apologized and got better at playing the identity game.

Excellence or Something Else?

Emilia Pérez shows the Academy will compromise on quality in order to achieve its “diversity” goals. The film topped the competition with 13 nominations, including one for Best Picture. In order to even qualify for the most prized award, filmmakers had to play by the Academy’s narrow diversity rules.

Industry insiders openly acknowledge that Emilia Pérez’s subject matter and diverse cast gave the film an advantage. The film even featured an especially potent first — lead actor Karla Sofía Gascón became the first trans woman to be nominated for Best Actress. The whole industry seemed poised to erupt into adulating allyship when Emma Stone made Gascón’s historic win official.

But that moment never came.

The film underperformed at the Oscars and Gascón went home empty handed because some Twitter-snoop journalist outed the actor as a political heretic. Problematic old tweets resurfaced (as they so often do!), the most hilariously ironic being one from 2021 when 2025’s diversity icon ripped the Oscars’ diversity obsession:

More and more the #Oscars are looking like a ceremony for independent and protest films, I didn’t know if I was watching an Afro-Korean festival, a Black Lives Matter demonstration or the 8M [a Spanish way of referring to International Women's Day]. Apart from that, an ugly, ugly gala.

Diversity or Conformity?

That someone with as much identity cred as Gascón could be stripped of a chance at the podium for thoughtcrimes shows that “diversity” is often just code for “political conformity.” Hollywood’s Eight Percenters are interested in elevating “diverse” voices, but only if they conform politically. It’s less about promoting underrepresented minorities and more about promoting an overrepresented worldview, one that roughly 92 percent of Americans reject.

How telling that, when the Academy demoted Gascón, it promoted Sean Baker, a cis white male filmmaker who affirms the “correct” worldview. His film, Anora, cleaned up with five Academy Awards including for Best Picture and Best Actress.

Mikey Madison scored best actress gold for playing a Brooklyn prostitute who meets and marries the son of a Russian oligarch. During her acceptance speech, Madison made sure “to recognize and honor the sex worker community.” Sex workers don’t rank anywhere near transgender people on the oppression hierarchy, but what was the Academy supposed to do — reward a trans actor who failed its purity test!

And it’s not like Anora was the only worthy Emilia Pérez replacement.

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Wanna Win? Better Conform

The Academy's ideological filtering gave voters plenty of other options. Most of the 10 Best Picture nominees affirm the correct sacred beliefs. Emilia Pérez celebrates transgenderism and Anora celebrates sex workers, but that’s just the beginning.

Voters could support yet another takedown of the Catholic Church (Conclave) or yet another movie that highlights systemic racism (Nickel Boys). I’m Still Here highlights the threat of right-wing dictatorships and Wicked dangles lots of Oscar bait. Consider this summary from Elle: "From LGBTQ+ representation, to shining a light on disabilities, animal rights, female friendship and more, Wicked not only offers escapism to a world of utter fantasy, but equally, acts as a sharp reminder of how to navigate a world marred by corruption and discrimination."

Of course, the entertainment industry is only selectively interested in corruption and discrimination. When the “correct” villains commit treachery against the “correct” victims, Hollywood puffs its chest in outrage. When the industry encounters filmmakers “brave” enough to tell these stories, the suits will reward them with financing, wide distribution, gushy reviews, and a pile of statuettes.

Yes, such filmmakers might encounter some heat. For instance, a prominent bishop may rip Conclave. But criticism from outside the monoculture generally improves a film’s standing within the monoculture. It signals that filmmakers have played the game correctly. They are on the correct side of the Us-vs-Them divide. It also creates the illusion that the industry is speaking truth to power.

In other words, all the talk about the passing of the madness has yet to reach the Oscars. Many say it doesn’t matter. They say the Oscars have fallen into irrelevance. I want to agree, but I can’t. While the Academy pretends to fight The Man, it overlooks the fact that it is The Man. Its critics overlook that fact too — Hollywood is still the world’s wealthiest and most powerful producer of moving pictures. And its influence extends far beyond the movies and shows it creates.

As silly and self important as the glittery Oscar ceremony might be, its rituals send important signals throughout the filmmaking world. It signals the kinds of projects financiers, distributors, reviewers, and awards shows will support, and the kinds they’ll suppress.

And what Hollywood is signaling is sameness.

That’s bad news for filmmakers and film lovers who don’t share the entertainment industry’s myopic view of the world. It’s bad news for those of us who realize that real life often undermines Hollywood’s rigid view of villains and victims.

It’s bad news for those of us who are tired of the tedious sameness, and who yearn for an approach to art that’s, dare I say, a bit more diverse.

Ted Balaker is a filmmaker, and former network newser and think tanker. His written work has appeared in many publications including The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, Reason, and The Washington Post.

His recent film work includes Little Pink House starring Catherine Keener and Jeanne Tripplehorn, Can We Take a Joke? featuring Gilbert Gottfried and Penn Jillette, and the new feature documentary based on the bestselling book, The Coddling of the American Mind, by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt. Stream the very first “Substack Presents” feature documentary here on Substack or on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and Google Play.

Ted and his wife and producing partner Courtney Moorehead Balaker are now making a narrative feature film based on Rob Henderson’s bestselling book Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class.