Roll up, roll up: the circus is in town. On Sunday, Los Angeles will host the 94th Academy Awards, the most glamorous event on the Hollywood calendar.

This year the AcademyThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional organisation of film workers. It has run the Oscars since 1929. is pulling out all the stops. Global stars have been invited, from Nicole Kidman to Will Smith. Pop icons Beyonce and Billie Eilish will perform live. And a new fan favourite prize will allow the public to vote on an award for the first time.

On the surface, the Oscars seem glitzier than ever. But there are cracks beneath the surface. The ceremony was once one of the most coveted spots on TV. It was a sure-fire generator of iconic moments, from Halle BerryBerry was the first African-American woman to win the Best Actress award, for the 2001 drama Monster's Ball. She remains the only one.'s pioneering win to Sally Fields' teary acceptance speech. 

Yet recently, the public seems to have fallen out of love. The 2021 awards were a disaster. The ceremony was watched by just 10.4 million people - a 56% drop from the 23.6 million who tuned in the year before. At its peak in 1998, the awards attracted 57.2 million viewers - almost as many people as the population of Britain at the time. As Actor Seth Rogen says: "Maybe people just don't care. Maybe they did for a while and they stopped caring. And why should they?"

Some say the Oscars are out of date. Once, it was a novelty to see the stars out of character and to watch clips from their best films. Now, streaming allows us to see almost everything, all of the time. And social media allows us to feel closer than ever to the stars and their lives off-screen. 

It does not help that the events themselves are dull, even for those in the audience. Screenwriter Gareth Roberts says: "Award ceremonies are agonising... They drag on for hours and hours and hours." For viewers watching on TV, the tedium is even greater.

Others wonder why we should care about Hollywood all. The #MeToo movementA campaign against sexual harassment and abuse often committed by people in positions of power. The movement took off after allegations of sexual abuse were made against American film producer Harvey Weinstein in 2017. sparked by Harvey WeinsteinA US film producer who is currently in prison after being found guilty of rape. Accusations against him sparked the global #MeToo movement in 2017, in which woman spoke out against sexual abuse and harassment. 's abusive behaviour has revealed the US film industry to be, in commentator Douglas Murray's words, "a cess-pit of sexual predation". Why should we celebrate a toxic culture?

For those who work in film, though, the awards remain hugely important. As culture reporter Sonia Rao says: "If the stars align, a nomination alone can transform a career." Only a handful of the 23 awards on offer celebrate the Hollywood elite. Many give recognition to less glamorous back-end crew members, such as special effects teams and make-up artists, or shine a light on areas of cinema that many viewers neglect, like short films and documentaries.

Cinema has extraordinary staying power. A year ago, movies seemed doomed. The pandemic had frozen production and closed cinemas. But the industry has bounced back. The recently released Spiderman: No Way Home had the 3rd biggest opening ever, taking $600m. 

The percentage of time people spend streaming films has risen from 7.8% to 10.1% against TV. And cinema ticket sales have shot back up, from 221.8 million in 2020 to 492 million in 2021. If cinema can return from the brink, perhaps the Oscars can too. They might just need time to adapt.

Yes: Viewership figures only tell one part of the story. The ceremonies may be out of fashion. But the Academy Awards and their results still command newspaper space and drive up box office sales.

No: Cinema is thriving. But the sort of films favoured by the Oscars - biopics, Westerns and family dramas - are almost always in English and do not represent its true diversity. We will do fine without them.

Or... Every profession has its award ceremonies, important to those in the industry but irrelevant to those outside it. The Oscars should be seen in a similar light.

Academy - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a professional organisation of film workers. It has run the Oscars since 1929.

Halle Berry - Berry was the first African-American woman to win the Best Actress award, for the 2001 drama Monster's Ball. She remains the only one.

#MeToo movement - A campaign against sexual harassment and abuse often committed by people in positions of power. The movement took off after allegations of sexual abuse were made against American film producer Harvey Weinstein in 2017.

Harvey Weinstein - A US film producer who is currently in prison after being found guilty of rape. Accusations against him sparked the global #MeToo movement in 2017, in which woman spoke out against sexual abuse and harassment.