By: Page Editor Theodore Thomson
Television reflects our darkest and most delightful thoughts as it connects society to the surreal. Year after year, said television is celebrated through The Oscars, The SAG Awards, and the Golden Globes. These ceremonies ran from January 5th to March 2nd of 2025. If television is a mirror, then award ceremonies are the magnifying glasses that make these societal themes clear. What are these themes? What are some of the most esteemed directors and producers trying to bring to light? What are and aren’t students interested in this award season?
One of the most relevant and repetitive themes was the repercussions of war as shown in The Brutalist, Dune Two, No Other Land, and A Real Pain. A Real Pain spoke on generational trauma due to the holocaust. Dune Two portrayed the changes society and people as a whole may go through when at war. The Brutalist, though controversial, handled the difficult topic of PTSD after being in the concentration camps less than 100 years ago. No Other Land blatantly made clear the repercussions of the war in Gaza from the tiny perspective of two young boys. The Oscars animation winner, Flow, was the most optimistic of the bunch, touching on what might be the most important trait to have, empathy.
“Flow was made in Blender and was the second movie made by this tiny indie studio,” senior Samantha Cross said. “They won against Disney and Dreamworks, which are normally at the top even if they are in their flop era. It shows that animation is being taken more seriously in the Oscars.”
The film created another beautiful interpretation of the mythical flood that was said to have submerged the other many years ago. It caught the eyes of student after student as it proved that the future may lie in unique independent films. When asked about the Oscars, the furry feature which depicted the love that animals hold for each other in dark times seemed to reappear over and over. It created an optimistic glow in those who talked about it, especially with the same three big studios seeming to win everything anymore.
“So much of what you watch anymore is just basic or has that Disney 3-D model effect on it,” Nikolina Anceski said. “Flow is this beautiful art piece that tells a story without any dialogue like Wall-E.”
Totally switching gears back, The Brutalist brought up a more nationalistic optimism: The American Dream. As Flow exchanged humans for animals in creating a story about empathy, The Brutalist focused on the aftermath of tragedy the seemed to lack any. The Brutalist was about a Hungarian holocaust survivor and how he had to move on with his life through a time of dysregulation and repair. New York Times summarized the idea as “Ambitions Unbound.” While the premise may sound intriguing, many were dissatisfied with the final product. This is not because of the writing, as the movie was given 90% by Metacritic, but because of a term that seems to never go away: Artificial Intelligence.
“It’s obvious that the voters are not watching the films in these ceremonies anymore, or at least not the ones that win,” senior Hailey Daubert said. “There is so much AI anymore, especially with The Brutalist and Emilia Perez. Adrian Brody’s accent was tweaked to sound Hungarian in The Brutalist. Emilia Perez’s voice has been completely changed not to sound tone deaf at all.”
Huge news pages like MSN and HuffPost criticized Brody for his alleged arrogance on stage as he was caught throwing his chewed-up gum at his date(Access Hollywood) and told the maestro to stop because “he had been there before” during his win at the Oscars. When interviewed, multiple students had said they felt that celebrities became disillusioned with their fame and money. To some this was shown in Brody’s character on stage, to others it’s how celebrities may at times seem to pick and choose what they speak about on the stage.
“Celebrities have no right to speak on anything like climate change or gas prices when they fly all over the country on their private planes,” senior Jerome Riley said. “How can you say you care about the environment or prices when they don’t genuinely put any effort into their fake activism. When’s the last time you saw Taylor Swift get her own groceries or pump her own gas?”
Students like junior Isaac Hellebuyck spoke on how nice it was to see Sean Baker, director of Anora, speak on the safety of women and the preservation of movie theatres today. Others were upset by a perceived performative activism that came from the actors and actresses in these films. The disconnection mentioned above seemed to be really prominent as the cast of Emilia Perez spoke about the film and Trevor Noah’s illegal immigrant joke during the Grammys(The Mirror) that came off as in bad taste. Most people though were in the middle of this complicated situation. The hot topic surrounding this was, of course, Emilia Perez.
“I think that if what you were nominated is related to deeper topics, it is so important to touch on those things,” senior Hannah Moyet said. “I don’t think Zoe Saldiva did a good job at going into the detail of what Emilia Perez was about. I feel like she went past it, I think events like the Oscars are the best places to talk about issues because so many people are watching and wouldn’t want to hear these things just on their own.”
There was an uproar about the film, creating displeasure among every political group. TikTok was flooded with rant after rant from countless people, disappointed by what should have been a unifying movie on paper. The movie ended up being 5.4/10 on IMDB while a 72% on the Rotten Tomatoes meter (IMDB). The films from last year were still on the minds of those interviewed, like the Barbie movie.
“The fact that it went from What Was I Made For to Emilia Perez is crazy,” senior Charlie Dobson. “The whole reason the movie was even nominated was just to say that there was a trans person involved. In the process of trying to show off any diversity, they completely disrespected the trans community and many others.”
There is betrayal felt throughout the cinephile community in how movies are written anymore, which may have led to the drop in The Oscars viewers over the years. Sequel after sequel, reboot after reboot; many are missing the charm that Hollywood wore like a badge of armor. Rushed scripts and cash grabs are the new craze and Utica High School students have had enough. There is a yearning for the old action films that both paid homage to the comics and had an original feel to them.
“I feel like movies now are trying to pull off what big studios like Marvel have already done,” senior Larry Nelson said. “What pivoted the Marvel movies in the first place was there was always some big thing that we were going through that they would translate into the films.”
It’s not a shock that there is a nostalgia for these films when concerns about war, domestic conflicts, and the economy are on the rise. As the World Economic Forum worded it, as of March 2025, statistics show that we live in “A World of Growing Divisions.” The need for distractions is on the rise and many feel that an action-packed movie that dips its toes in reality would be the solution. It may be time that critic stop looking for the next The Pianist, and instead, the next well written Iron Man.
“I’d say action is the most influential genre to our generation,” senior Morgan Jackson said. “I feel like people take after what they see.”
Others went the more fanciful route, while still being relevant, with movies like Dune Two and Wicked. While they may have been nominated, people were left unsatisfied when they won very little awards. Both movies had their screen time at the award ceremonies, like when Conan had introduced a sandworm playing chopsticks or Cynthia Erivo and Arianna Grande singing Defying Gravity at the Oscars. These little references just felt like the bare minimum when the movie won barely any awards. There was not much of a gratification to watching these 3 hour long shows.
“I think that Dune 2 should have won a lot more like visually and acting wise,” senior Alex Watnick said. “Drama explores character development then other genres. It’s more influential because it illustrates characters better, making them more relatable.”
When teenagers already are proven to have low attention spans, it’s not hard to believe that they may want to have more of a connection to these films. What is the point in watching an award ceremony when the films are not well known and there is no way to feel connected to these films. At best, these movies make note of current issues, like The Conclave opening up the religious world while the pope currently has pneumonia or The Substance focusing on the standards women are forced to hold up as they age. In the end though, these are just reminders of the issues at hand, not solutions. It creates fear instead of making a person feel safer like films in the past have.
“I’ve been watching a lot of older comedy and action movies with actors like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Brad Pitt, and Adam Sandler,” sophomore Franciso Florez said. “I guess the new movies coming out are more enjoyable to Generation Alpha, which is both my siblings. They seem to really get it, but I don’t and neither do my parents.”
These movies may not be for our generation to appreciate, but for the next generation to instead. Maybe as Generation Alpha ages, they with find a comfort in the confrontation or fix the amount of AI usage. These are just the interpretations students from the ages of 14-18 made. Who knows what other generations may make of this award season? Films will always be subjective and up to interpretation, which is what makes them so complex and intriguing. It will always be okay to enjoy movies from all eras or just one era. Celebrity culture is crazy and always moving at the speed of light. There will always be something for everyone in Hollywood. All it takes is one article, movie, or award ceremony to start a conversation.
