Sad but true: Oscar voters are old, white, male, and petty

Sure, that doesn't describe all of them. But the numbers are not heartening.

Oscars
(Image credit: (Toby Canham/Getty Images))

It takes a certain kind of insanity to care about the subjective opinions of 6,000 total strangers. And yet, on Sunday night, roughly 40 million people will tune in to ABC to do just that.

We all know that the Academy Awards ceremony is Hollywood's biggest night of the year. Each studio spends countless millions of dollars, on both production and promotion, to chase the whims of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, which hands out the shiny golden trophies each year.

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Scott Meslow

Scott Meslow is the entertainment editor for TheWeek.com. He has written about film and television at publications including The Atlantic, POLITICO Magazine, and Vulture.