The nightmarish experience of the Academy Awards ceremony a few weeks back generated a lot of commentary, mainly long laments about what an unfunny, creepy host Seth MacFarlane was. But time passes; rage cools; the ratings come out and prove that, compared to previous years, the 2013 Oscar telecast was a popular triumph. The show’s producers, Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, go on record saying they’re “proud” of their chosen host for succeeding in making the show, once again, “part of the cultural conversation.”

If MacFarlane succeeded at his job, what was that job? In what sense might the Oscar ceremony have finally acquired an ideal twenty-first-century host in this smirking, tap-dancing, bland-faced man?

To see it that way, you have to think about Seth MacFarlane’s role as the Oscar’s master of ceremonies. The Master of Ceremonies was a big deal in the early Catholic Church, responsible for making sure religious rituals were performed correctly. There’s probably a Master of Ceremonies kicking around the Vatican today, making sure nobody drops the communion wafers. But religious rituals ain’t what they used to be when it comes to constructing and affirming social order. Today, instead of religious rituals to give us the sense that we’re all connected and our lives have meaning, we’ve got media rituals.