How Oscar winning films reflect the society they come from.
For nearly a hundred years the Academy Awards have honored the best and brightest for their unique ability to tell a story, but they’ve also shone a light on societies hopes, fears and values.
The Academy Awards are not just a pat on the back for film makers; they’re also a snapshot of our culture and help us understand the political and social climate at the time.
So, as we near this year’s ceremony let’s look back at some of the Oscars best picture winners and how they reflected society at the time.
Our first feature, the 2022 Best Picture winner ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ captures the chaos of the 21st century better than almost any film in recent memory.
The film, directed by Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan, follows Evelyn Wang, a Chinese‑American laundromat owner whose stress filled and fractured life becomes a literal multiverse of possibilities, an exaggerated reflection of the pressures many people feel today.
The movie’s genre‑blending frenzy mirrors our own society that is often overwhelmed by information, identity struggles, and generational conflict. As film critic Ben Traves noted in Empire magazine:
“The magic of Everything Everywhere All At Once is in its title. Within it, you’ll find every genre, experience every emotion. It’s both a reflection of, and an oasis from, the incessant overstimulation of 21st-century life.”
Its themes of existential anxiety and absurdity perfectly reflect contemporary societies’ own fears about meaninglessness and purpose in our overstimulated Tik-Tok era.
“Are you not entertained?!” in 2000 we certainly were with Ridley Scott’s sword and sandal epic ‘Gladiator’ which tells the story of soldier turned gladiator Maximus and his pursuit of justice against the corrupt and ruthless Emperor Commodus.
Winning the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2001 (and four more academy awards) the enduring appeal wasn’t just the dazzling set pieces and sword swinging action that spoke to the audience but it tapped into a feeling of fear and uncertainty felt around the world.
At the time of the films release a new century had just begun; the world was still recovering from the collapse of the Soviet Union and fear of the unknown and unchecked power lingered in people’s hearts.
Like Commodus’ Rome, which rules through fear and manipulation the opening years of the 21st Century were rife with corruption and society was unaware of how drastically the world was about to change with the advent of globalized conflict and popular use of the internet.
Maximus’ pursuit for justice reflects societies’ desire for a moral and trustworthy leader in the face of so much uncertainty and corruption after years of political scandal and overreach which defined the late 20th century.
As Leslie Felprenin put in the June 2000 edition of Sight and Sound magazine:
“Gladiator’s subtext is as frank as a codpiece. Rome here stands in for America: corrupt at its heart, based on enslavement, dedicated to sustaining pointless wars abroad while the mob happily forgoes a more civil society for bread and circuses.”
We’re ditching Swords and Sandals now for Scrubs and Sedatives as we go back 50 years to look at the 1976 Oscar winner for best picture ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ directed by Miloš Forman.
Based on the book of the same name by Ken Kesey the film follows the story of American Randle McMurphy who feigns mental illness to avoid being sent to prison.
Randle thinks he’s in for an easy ride until he meets the cold and authorative Nurse Ratched who intimidates her patients and maintains control through fear.
It would be easy to mistake this film for just a comedy-drama however this would be doing it a disservice as it’s an unflinching allegory for defiance against authority and conformism in post-Vietnam America. As Film Critic Roger Ebert noted in his 2004 retrospective review:
“It remains enduringly popular as an anti-establishment parable”.
Randle represents the disillusionment felt by many Americans after years of war and the need to fight against authority even in the direst of situations whereas Ratched represents the unbending and order driven American government which sought continued control in the post war era.
American society at the time had been through the ringer during the Vietnam war and people were skeptical about abuse of authority and the need for conformism coming from the establishment.
Last but certainly not least we have the 1927 film, and first Oscar winner for best picture in 1929, ‘Wings’ directed by William A. Wellman.
The silent and synchronized sound war film tells the story of two young American men from different social backgrounds who despite being rivals for the same woman become close friends and daring fighter pilots in the US Air Service during WW1.
The film is rightly considered a masterpiece and exemplifies the 1920’s emphasis on spectacle and decadence with its swinging Parisienne cafe scene and engaging dog fights.
This was a world recovering from the first world war but that was also enduring a period of economic prosperity and cultural vibrance known as the roaring 20’s.
It was a time of towering egos and unchecked ambition, perfectly illustrated by a remark attributed to Louis B. Mayer, the studio mogul often described as the father of the Academy Awards. As film historian Michael Schulman recounts in Oscar Wars, Mayer once admitted:
“I found that the best way to handle (artists) was to hang medals all over them. If I got them cups and awards, they’d kill themselves to produce what I wanted. That’s why the Academy Award was created”.
They had been decorated in war and now desired to be decorated in civilian life. This was a world that was unaware of how drastic things would change in the coming decade.
From the silent skies of ‘Wings’ to the institutional corridors of ‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ or the blood-soaked sands of ‘Gladiator’ and the mind bending worlds of ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once’, the Academy’s most celebrated films reveal far more than technical excellence or popular appeal.
Taken together, these films show that the Oscars do not merely reward cinema; they archive the emotional and political state of their time. In this way, film becomes a celluloid mirror, reflecting not who we are, but who we fear becoming, and what we believe can challenge that.
As we look ahead to this year’s Oscars, it’s worth remembering that the next Best Picture winner will offer its own reflection of who we are right now. The 2026 Academy Awards ceremony will be broadcast live on Sunday 8 March.
