The Oscars x Symbolic Capital

Did you watch The Oscars? Did you formerly watch The Oscars but don't anymore? Do you only consume The Oscars via clips on social media? Well guess what? No matter how you answered, you're not alone! In this week's episode, Hannah and Marcelle talk about the changing zeitgeisty-ness of the Academy Awards through a deep dive on the awards' early days, its legacy and what we might make of the show's move to Youtube starting 2029.

Drawing on theorist Robert Boucault's new book, Oscar Bait: The Academy Awards & Cultural Prestige, Hannah helps us understand the complex ways the Oscars navigate various forms of capital in the field of filmmaking. We talk elitism, cultural capital, symbolic capital and capital intraconversion!

Happy listening!

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Works Cited

Baragona, Louis. “How the Oscars has changed over the past 92 years.” Business Insider 23 April 2021. https://www.businessinsider.com/oscars-over-the-years-2018-3.

Boucault, Robert. Oscar Bait: The Academy Awards & Cultural Prestige. New York: Routledge, 2026. https://doi-org.proxy.lib.sfu.ca/10.4324/9781003597605.

Feinberg, Scott. “Oscars’ TV Ratings Headache Turns Into a Migraine.” The Hollywood Reporter 2 March 2022. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/oscars-tv-ratings-live-telecast-1235102498/.

Feinberg, Scott, and Alex Weprin. “Oscars Bolts From ABC to YouTube Starting in 2029.” The Hollywood Reporter 17 December 2025. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/oscars-bolt-from-abc-to-youtube-starting-in-2029-1236453188/.

Rao, Sonia. “Why do the Oscars Matter?” The Washington Post 16 April 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2021/04/16/oscars-academy-award-significance/

Richardson, Kalia. “A Decade After #OscarsSoWhite, Can Hollywood Do Better?” Rolling Stone 2 March 2025. https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/oscars-so-white-10-years-1235276085/.

Thomson, David. “The House That Mr. Mayer Built: Inside the Union-Busting Birth of the Academy Awards.” Vanity Fair 21 February 2014. https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/02/secret-oscar-history.

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Music Credits:

“Shopping Mall”: by Jay Arner and Jessica Delisle ©2020

Used by permission. All rights reserved. As recorded by Auto Syndicate on the album “Bongo Dance”.

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