Oscar season is upon us again and just like every year, there are cheers for many people’s favorite nominated films and there are grumbles from fans who aren’t happy at with the nominations. And like every year, I am hearing the same two lines:
“The Academy is full of old people who are out of touch.”
“They never nominate films that people actually see.”
But is this true? The best example people give for these statements is 2008’s huge Best Picture snub for The Dark Knight. The films that did make the nominations that year were The Reader, Milk, Frost/Nixon, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and the winner, Slumdog Millionaire. Four years later, the only movies from that list that people still talk about are Slumdog and Milk. Though I personally may have given Best Picture to Slumdog Millionaire rather than Dark Knight, I am baffled as to why a mediocre film like Benjamin Button made a nomination for Best Picture.
When that snub occurred, people are outraged. And this time, the Academy listened. A next year in 2009, the Academy Awards upped the chances for other films to win Best Picture by allowing nine films to enter instead of four or five. Not only that, but two science fiction films were nominated (Avatar and District 9), an animated film (Up) and also Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. Though the nomination list featured typical Oscar bait such as The Blind Side, there were also agreat acting pieces such as Up In the Air and work from today’s best directors like the Coen Brothers’ A Serious Man. I remember watching just about every nominated film during the December of ‘09 and just loving the quality of films that I was seeing. An excuse to view nine greats films? I was great! The Hurt Locker ended up winning that year and it was a choice most people were happy with. At the end, it seemed that the Oscars had redeemed themselves from 2008’s disaster.
However, 2010 and 2011 were mixed years for the Oscars, with people once again being less than thrilled about the winners. For 2011’s winner, The Artist, I’ve heard many people say it was just industry kissing its own rear with the movie being a glorified tribute to the golden age of Hollywood. This once again caused people to wonder if the Oscars really reflect today’s moviegoer.
For 2012, the nomination grumbles are not as loud. Like I said earlier, people still have things to say, but the nominations are no doubt the best films of the year year. While my own grumblings do demand justice for Moonrise Kingdom not getting, I feel the Academy pretty much nailed it this year.
Yes, it was a mistake that The Dark Knight was not nominated in 2008. But at the same time, another huge fan-followed franchise won Best Picture in 2003, that being The Lord of the Rings: The Return of The King. Then again, to this day people are still angry that Crash somehow beat Brokeback Mountain for Best Picture in 2005. With gay cinema being less shocking in 2013, would the outcome have been the same nowadays? We can even go farther back into controversial Oscar wins: Annie Hall beating Star Wars for Best Picture in 1977. Yes, Annie Hall is Woody Allen’s greatest film and is the quintessential New York City romantic comedy film but it definitely did NOT have the culture impact of Star Wars. Not even close.
But the grumblers can be ridiculous at times too. This year alone, there were people angry that The Dark Knight Rises was not nominated for Best Picture. As good as a movie as it was, this film had many flaws and was definitely not worthy for Best Picture in my personal opinion.
This is a debate that can go on and on in endless circles. With that in mind, I will have to say in conclusion that both sides are both wrong and right in this debate. I feel at times the Oscars do indeed choose less than worthy films as Best Picture, especially when comparing today’s winners to the legendary movies from the past. But I feel this also reflects the quality of films being lower nowadays when compared back then.
As a grumbler myself, what would I like to see from the Oscars? I would love for them to completely get rid of the Best Foreign Film category and allow an equal number of entries of films from all over the world. Perhaps it would get more Americans to see more movies from other countries. Nevertheless, I feel that would be the only true way to really decide what the best film of the year is.
(This post also written for cinemaddicts.net)
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Mutually Awkward 
