Award Season Already?

The earliest article I can find on the subject this year was written in August. Let’s think about that. That is less than six months after the ceremony for the 2025 Oscars. It’s like elections; they start earlier and earlier every time, to the point that I’m sure there are people who have already filed to run for an election that, as I write this, is over two years away. I’m still getting ads for the midterms—I’ve already voted, but they don’t know that—and they’re trying to make me care about the next election and not in the sense of “Christ I’ll be glad when this administration is over.”

I like the Oscars. I’ve written so much about the Oscars that I’m not going to bother linking all the articles I’ve written about them. There’s only so seriously I take them as a metric of quality, goodness knows, but I enjoy watching them, and I enjoy watching the movies that are nominated. I do a thing every year in the lead-up, between nominations and the ceremony, that I call Oscarpalooza. Though I’ve given myself permission to skip the movies I don’t think I’d like, which sometimes means I’m mostly watching what documentaries and shorts I can find.

But I don’t think I should have to care yet. Sure, sometimes frontrunners are released by this time of year, even here in Washington—even in a way I can see them. I saw Sinners last year on my daughter’s first day of school, and I was late to see it among my friends. Kpop Demon Hunters was released on Netflix in June. Okay, fair. It’s entirely possible I’ve already seen a frontrunner this year, since I saw The Odyssey on the big (very big) screen with my son this summer. You never know. And animation is always on its own schedule; maybe Hoppers will take the prize over a year after its release.

That doesn’t mean I’m following the race yet. I’m not watching anything in the anticipation of seeing it in the nominations list. We watched The Odyssey because my son and I are both mythology fans and I am at least somewhat a Nolan fan, and I’m trying to cultivate a sense of film appreciation in the kids. I did not take the nine-year-old because of course I didn’t, but it was a good experience, and my son and I both enjoyed the movie. (Though he’s mad that they conflated the lotos-eaters and Calypso.) I’d actually watched Sinners assuming it wouldn’t get nominated for much because it’s a genre movie.

I can care about the Oscars as an institution without having to care about the race yet. I can care about movies without having to care about their Oscar chances. I’m sure the people at the studios have to care about that sort of thing, because it does still influence the lasting legacy of a movie. However, the conversations are starting earlier every year. I, for one, would at least like to wait until all eligible movies have been released. Maybe until the year is over. Let movies just be appreciated for themselves for a while longer.