Academy Awards

How the institution’s reactionary origins still leak into today’s film culture.

More than just an upset, "Saving Private Ryan" losing the Best Picture Oscar to "Shakespeare in Love" changed how Academy Awards are won.

Oscar night has become a platform for stars to pitch political causes.

As José Ferrer was being handed his Oscar—making him the first Latino actor to win—he was being investigated by the House Un-American Activities Committee.

From the meh (A Beautiful Mind) to the stunningly beautiful (Moonlight), and the classic (All About Eve) to the god-awful (Birdman).

Jews in the industry called for the Academy Museum to highlight the men who created the movie business. A voice in my head went, Uh-oh.

After Robert Opel dashed naked across the stage in 1974, he ran for President and settled into the gay leather scene.

Black femininity was always considered a hard sell in Hollywood, but Hattie McDaniels and Dorothy became the perfect women to peddle racist stereotypes.

Conservatives have used celebrity glitz effectively, too.

I was once paid six figures to write an article—now what?

A new biography of an elusive comic talent.

Why the truth is crucial, even it it means losing an American Indian hero.

Dueling was a dangerous, ritualized response to a real (or perceived) slight. It may also have been a means of proving one's social and economic capital.

A conversation with the biographer of radical Jewish 'revenge theologian' Meir Kahane.

'Isn’t this supposed to be the museum of the motion picture industry?' a historian asks. 'They forgot about the industry part.'

A stereotype? Definitely. Problematic? You bet. But many Mexican Americans still love the cartoon character.

The 'Gone With the Wind' film legend, who died at age 104, went up against a broken Hollywood studio system—and helped change the industry forever.

Ashley Boone Jr., the first black president of a major Hollywood studio, helped make Star Wars a hit, yet chances are you've never heard of him.

"Every film about war ends up being pro-war," Francois Truffaut once said.

Why do they have to be such sore winners?

It became the first and only X-rated movie to win a best picture Oscar.

Are a few bombastic speeches really enough to wash the bloodstains off Churchill’s racist hands?