How to Fix the Oscars: Institute a Live Re-Vote

Slate wants to fix the Oscars—"Academy Awards ceremonies are laughable, even to those of us who love them," the site declares—so it's asking writers and editors to offer up their proposals in advance of the Feb. 26 ceremony. Lowen Liu's idea: Allow for a re-vote on the major categories 10 years later. That would mean that this year, Academy voters could finally make up for the travesty that occurred when A Beautiful Mind won over such "diverse and dazzling" films as English manners mystery Gosford Park and the theatrical Moulin Rouge!

The golden statues would be "repossessed and redistributed," and we'd end up with "an officially sanctioned shadow awards, always 10 years the wiser, with perhaps less relevance but more respect," writes Liu. Rather than masking their disappointment, those who are robbed of their rightful awards each year can "flash signs that say, 'See you in a decade.'" After all, when it comes to the arts, there's no such thing as a final judgment. If the Academy doesn't take Liu up on the idea this year, "then soon," he writes. "It’s not too late for those who gasped in horror along with so many others when Crash stole the honors from Brokeback Mountain in 2006." Click for another proposal involving canceling the ceremony entirely. (More Oscars stories.)