akajustmerry:

whenever you find yourself baffled, even enraged, by who the Academy rewards and who they don’t - i find remembering that the Academy Awards were created by Hollywood mogul Louis B Mayer with the specific purpose of preventing mass unionisation. Mayer figured if Hollywood workers were made to think of themselves as artists rather than labourers they’d be less inclined to unionise. Of the awards, Mayer famously said in the late 1920s, “if I give them cups and awards, they’d kill themselves to produce what I wanted.” Also by awarding and inviting few, Mayer and the Academy pushed individualist aspirations and exceptionalism over collectivism. Considering the upcoming Writers Guild strike over the exploitation streaming has created that Hollywood producers are trying to suppress (which is why a lot of shows are being cancelled btw because they don’t want to pay writers), this anti-union legacy is still clearly alive and well. The majority of these Hollywood award shows were not created to actually award artistic merit, but to create an illusion of artistic meritocracy that would stifle solidarity among workers. So, whenever you find yourself baffled, even enraged, by who the Academy rewards and who they don’t, remember that’s not what they’re really for.