Are the Oscars relevant any more?

From here: The Academy Awards are generally perceived and promoted as an imprimatur of quality, the film industry's way of stamping their finest product Grade-A. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Oscars are in fact a popularity contest designed not to award good movies but movies that make the film industry look good. The mission is public relations, and it is as old as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences itself. The difference is that what was once an intentional directive has been absorbed into the subconscious of Academy voters and the culture at large. We're better people for making these movies, these awards say, and you'll be better for watching them.

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Ultimately, Oscar means nothing more than what sort of statement voters want to make at the instant they fill out their ballots. Rather than a standard of eternal cinematic excellence, the awards are a snapshot of a cultural millisecond - a reflection, not a summation, of the pop moment. They say everything about how Hollywood sees the world and very little about the movies they're meant to honor.