The Academy Quietly Gave Out Eight Awards In 35 Minutes, So Why Is The Show So Long?

Instead of televising and officially presenting the awards for eight important technical categories, the Oscars announced them quietly during the red carpet show. Setting aside just how disrespectful it is to forgo televising these awards in lieu of more celebrity-fawning, it's still fascinating that they were able to present all eight awards to their recipients in just about 35 minutes. Concerns about time were why these categories were cut, but if the private awards ceremony got everything done in just over a half-hour, maybe the awards themselves aren't the problem. Every year there are loads of cringe-inducing sequences meant to "spice things up," whether it's host and presenter jokes or moments like Ellen DeGeneres' audience selfie. Maybe instead of spending time trying to woo and entertain non-movie lovers, we could just, you know, have an awards ceremony?

The awards for sound, documentary short subject, film editing, makeup and hairstyling, production design, original score, animated short film, and live-action short film were all cut from the televised broadcast, removing the chance for the winners to celebrate or share their speeches with the masses. Without the people who are nominated for these technical awards, there are no movies. Imagine Best Picture nominee "Dune" without the score, which won celebrated composer Hans Zimmer his first Oscar since 1995 — a year before star Timothée Chalamet was even born. Imagine "West Side Story" without the vintage New York look, which was created with the help of makeup artists and hair stylists, along with production design teams. No movie is complete without editing, and yet that award wasn't televised in lieu of... what exactly?

It only took 35 minutes to present all of these awards, which means the problem isn't the awards or the acceptance speeches. Sure, some winners go a little long if they're on national television, but that's still going to be a lot less time than the hour-and-a-half long red carpet pre-show, which was an awkward affair that didn't even really hype up the films nominated, focusing instead on fashion and asking celebrities random questions. The Oscars is supposed to be the biggest celebration of cinema every year, so why are they focusing on fashion, Instagram influences, and elaborate musical numbers that aren't even live in the theater instead of the movies and the people who make them? That would be signficantly better than the opening jokes, which could have been cut to give the awards for score and editing, at the very least.

If this year's Oscars is as much of a train wreck as it's looking like it will be, hopefully next year they'll go back to what matters: the awards.