that were big and...you know, on great themes, the ten commandments... ..around the world in 80 days. in some ways, it was a kind of a flattering self—portrait! because america was the new global empire. and the oscars reflected that? and the oscars reflected that. in the heyday of the academy awards, the oscars had such currency because it was one of the few windows giving movie fans the opportunity to gawk at their idols. there wasn't so much access to celebrity that you weren't looking at people's instagrams and twitter accounts and seeing every single red carpet played back on youtube and knowing exactly who was dating who. you know, it was all controlled by the studios. and so when you got access to the stars on oscar night, it was a big deal. everybody showed up and it was a big event. and the movies were in