Tom Jolliffe looks at the recent decision to introduce a new Academy Award category…
The Oscars are always contentious. It’s the ‘big’ award ceremony. It’s the one. No one really pays much attention to the Golden Globes, or anything else. The Oscar is the one statue everyone in Hollywood strives for. So now, in their infinite wisdom, it seems the board are looking to create a category for ‘Achievement in Popular Film.’ Even their category title makes little sense. It’s like getting an award in High School for achieving popularity. So how did you do it Britney? ‘I just formed a clique with all the popular girls, bullied the nerds and dated the captain of the football team. Easy.’
So here’s the rundown of the internet reaction so far. The predominant sentiment is that it’s an attempt to gain brownie points for inclusivity in a political and social climate where people are striving for and demanding more equality. Theories are abound that this has been created in the wake of Black Panther’s runaway success. Others see it as some kind of participation award.
Look, the reality is, this is a boardroom brainstorming session gone awry. It’s a daft attempt from a bunch of people, probably a little bit long in the tooth, trying to keep the awards modern and relevant. Lets face it though, this is an award ceremony that is over 80 years old and hasn’t changed massively in that time. Does Black Panther deserve a best picture nomination? I don’t think so, although historically, worse films have been nominated, even won an award. It’s a decent film but it’s impact on cinema has been more culturally important than thematically and cinematically. It’s still very much a Marvel formula film with pinches of well worn Shakespearean themes. It has certain prescient themes too for sure, but looking at something like BlacKkKlansman for example, I see a film there which looks a more engaging piece of cinema which has everything Black Panther does but with more intensity and probably more maturity. Despite the historic setting too, it looks just as, if not more, prescient.
The idea of achievement in popularity suggests only one logical way to pick the nominees and overall winner. That is box office takings. So what do you do? A Top Five US grosses? Or do you go worldwide? If the goal is indeed to attract more global audience (and particularly younger viewers, who historically aren’t really interested in things like this, and a new category won’t change that) then maybe worldwide grosses? You can see the arguments now can’t you? A film grosses x amount and gets nominated. Another film which misses out on a nod grossed more and then the message boards burn into a frenzied meltdown. As people have also stated, we may also see films like Transformers in line for this new award. Can you hear Jesus weeping? I can.
Here’s the thing. The Oscars have already half stepped to this point already when they opened out their best picture category from 5 nominations to 10. I’m pretty sure the goal there was to include more blockbuster orientated material that may previously have missed out. Lets face it too, the Oscars have historically often picked ‘popular’ choices too. Maybe not as overall winners (that said, Forrest Gump is an example) but certainly there have been a lot of nominations.
If we’re talking about new categories, it’s long overdue that the Oscars actually acknowledge a key part of the film-making process, and that is the stunt units. There have been plenty of best picture nominated films that would have owed a lot to their stunt department. See, for example, War films such as Dunkirk. Chris Nolan as a director often favours practical effects and live stunt work over CGI. His films which are all fairly action-centric, come to life thanks to exceptional stunt work. It’s an aspect just as relevant for adding to a film as Costume design or hair and make up.
In the end, if the Oscars wants to tread this path and perhaps follow up later with ‘Popular Actor’ etc, then there’s a danger it loses its status as a credible (okay…that may be a push), high brow ceremony and becomes more like the MTV movie awards. In their attempt here to be more current and more relevant they’ve only moved to show just how out of touch they really are and the very real danger that the awards will lose all appeal entirely. As for myself, I’ve just written a screenplay that involved a demonic scarecrow (hitting DVD in 19). I did joke that this could be what wins me the Oscar. Maybe I’m not far wrong…
Tom Jolliffe
