clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

The Oscars' voting process awards bland movies

Since 2009, when the Academy changed Best Picture from a straight popular vote to something much more convoluted (ostensibly to more accurately reflect the Academy's consensus), the winners have gotten much more self-congratulatory.

In the video above, Todd VanDerWerff helps me explain that the instant runoff system tends to honor "consensus" films that are often ranked second or third on voters' ballots, rather than films that are polarizing — but often more daring — and rank first on some ballots but dead last on others.

Sign up for the newsletter Sign up for Vox Recommends

Get curated picks of the best Vox journalism to read, watch, and listen to every week, from our editors.