Oscars Recycling Last Year’s Winners as Presenters Highlights Hollywood’s Predictable Self-Celebration

With the 98th Academy Awards fast approaching, the announcement that last year’s acting winners—Adrien Brody, Mikey Madison, Kieran Culkin, and Zoe Saldaña—will return as presenters seems like a troubling sign of Hollywood’s growing detachment from broader American society. Instead of spotlighting fresh voices or showcasing a diverse range of talent that reflects the heartland and patriotic Americans who built this country, the Oscars once again recycle their own narrow circle. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences claims continuity by inviting previous winners back to present, but what it really reveals is an industry more concerned with its self-congratulatory...