Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Residents prep, predict for Oscars

It’s Oscar Night in Hollywood, but what does Oscar Night in eastern New Mexico and west Texas mean?

Some will be watching the event, some won’t.

“Best picture? ‘Power of the Dog.’ Best Director? Jane Campion,” Christy Mendoza said. Mendoza is the cultural arts series director for Clovis Community College. She is retired from teaching film and theatre.

“Will Smith for best actor,” Mendoza continued, “Best actress? Jessica Chastain. Kirsten Dunst best supporting actress for her work in ‘Power of the Dog’ and Troy Kotsur, best supporting actor, from ‘Coda,’ And ‘Encanto’ for best animation.”

“I haven’t watched the Oscars in 15 years,” Jon Barr said. Barr is the chair for the department of theatre and digital filmmaking at Eastern New Mexico University.

“I used to watch the Oscars in the 90’s,” Barr continued. “That was at the peak of their popularity. Back then at one point they had 55 million viewers. Now they’re down to less than 10 million viewers.”

“There are a lot of reasons for the drop in viewership,” Barr said. “The ceremony is really long and they’ve gone to pre-taping. Pre-taping increases the divide between creative roles, editor, best score, short films. They are important. To just announce them is disrespectful.”

“There’s been a lot of cultural change,” Barr said. “For instance in the 90’s Harvey Weinstein was the king of the independent film. Then we discovered he’s a horrible, horrible man.”

“There’s a difference in taste between the viewing public and members of the academy,” Barr added.

“The pandemic changed the way we consumed movies,” Barr said. “How the movies make money affects what they make.”

“And now streaming, once the ‘red-headed stepchild’ of the industry, is the dominant force,” Barr said.