I saw a Bluesky post earlier about the Oscars having an anti-union past and so I looked it up and found a Teen Vogue article about union-busting “at the roots of the ceremony”.
The story goes that Louis B. Mayer, co-founder of MGM (he’s the last M), wanted a beach house made quickly and cheapily so rather than using regular labourers, he got some studio construction workers to do it. While they started unionising, he feared that actors and directors would do the same, so he decided to do something covert about it:
Mayer founded the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in 1927. AMPAS was initially designed to seem like an advocate for employees, effectively trying to replace the need for a union. However, membership in the organization was by invite only, and its loyalties clearly rested with management. Peter Decherney, a professor of cinema studies and author of Hollywood and the Cultural Elite tells Teen Vogue, “The Academy promised to be this industry-wide body that could help set standards. It never worked that way. It was often dismissed as the studio-heads’ union.”
The desire for industry control also inspired the creation of the Academy Awards in 1929. After a number of scandals, the awards offered an opportunity to generate positive publicity. Mayer is even quoted in one of his biographies specifically identifying the awards as a means for creative control. He said if he gave filmmakers “cups and awards, they’d kill themselves to produce what I wanted.”
Now the Oscars is a huge annual event and the pinnacle of film awards. But, much like the Grammy Awards, its history has been full of controversy and antiquated practices not including the anti-labour practices that inspired it.