Putting aside much hesitation, I intend to touch this subject for several reasons, none of which I bet are good enough, but nonetheless drive me to assert a basic point. Sure, it's a technicality in the large scope of things but its not like this blog is a big deal anyway. I mean it's public but nobody reads it except Tia Debbie (Hi Tia Debbie!) and so it seems to me to be the perfect place express my annoyance. I have not shared these thoughts on Facebook or Twitter or any other social media platform. I look forward to no conversations about it. Don't comment on this post if it isn't about movies.
#OscarsSoWhite controversy is technically a stupid argument. It takes place in a larger discussion of race inequality, which is not stupid but rather important. But #OscarsSoWhite is a stupid way to shed light on that larger discussion.
The larger discussion can be summed up like this: the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences is largely made up of old white men (i.e. not black people), the major motion picture studios are headed by non black people, and there is more opportunity for people who are not black than for black people in essentially all areas of the industry. From here one can make an even larger point about race inequality in general. Examples that come to mind: extortionate court system, mass incarceration, voting discrimination, and exclusionary zoning (inner city ghettos, housing projects, and segregated bad public schools are all included in this).
But #OscarsSoWhite is not actually about any of these issues. It is trending because of the lack of black nominees in major Oscar categories (actors, writers, directors, producers) the last two years. It seems like there may be racism amongst the old white men who make up the Academy but these accusations fall by the wayside rather quickly when one takes on specific cases of who got snubbed and who didn't. For instance, "Creed" directed by Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan was only nominated for Supporting Actor for Sylvester Stallone, the white guy. 'Creed' a good movie but it is a good movie in the sense that the J.J. Abrams reboots of 'Star Trek' and 'Star Wars' were good movies. I think its fair to call it either the 8th sequel in a franchise or the newish requel . It is very rare that non originality like that gets nominated for Best Picture. And Michael B. Jordan had a fine performance but the Lead Actor category is historically much more competitive than the Supporting Actor category. Take 2013's "Captain Phillips" when Tom Hanks was snubbed for Lead Actor but Barkad Abdi was nominated for a Supporting Actor. Or consider other boxing movies like Warrior (only Nick Nolte nominated for Supporting Actor), Cinderella Man (only Paul Giamatti nominated for Supporting Actor) or even Million Dollar Baby (Morgan Freeman won for Supporting Actor, Clint Eastwood only nominated for Lead Actor). Every example of supposed racism in this year's Oscar fall along similar lines.
But then the argument changes. #OscarsSoWhite does not point out examples of actual racism in the movie industry but a symptom of the overall problem. This too is stupid.
Why, because the problem of general racial inequality in the movie industry is not something that would affect Oscar nominations because Oscar nominees do not and never have reflected the general movie industry. The movie industry in general is commercial is scope. If the Oscar nominations reflected that then the Best Picture nominees would be gauged by box office numbers. (And if they did, "Fast and Furious 7" would have been nominated. It coincidentally has a largely diverse cast.) But they never do. In fact, Oscar nominated Best Pictures are routinely movies that the big studios have passed on and most people who watch movies have not seen. This year "Spotlight" won Best Picture. To say it represents the movie industry in general is absurd. And the Oscar nominated movies that did make a lot of money at the box office this year are not lowest common denominator movies. They are great niche movies like Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, and Inside Out. Those movies were not sure things to make a lot of money. The fact that they did was a bonus for everybody who cares about movies, but it certainly was not the reason they were nominated for Oscars.
Given that unique exceptional movies are the ones that are generally nominated for Oscars it would make sense that Oscar nominees do not follow the general demographics of society (that is to say 10% black people). Some years there are more, some years less, and some years exactly 10% depending on whether the movies the black people were in were unique exceptional movies. Great art by its very nature is unpredictable. It is impossible to tell where or when it will crop up next.
To appease #OscarsSoWhite there is a simple solution: make a category of Best Black Actor/Film/Whatever and then black people can be nominated and guaranteed to win an Oscar every single year. But for obvious reasons such a solution is absurd and more importantly insulting to every black person nominated because it casts a shadow over whether those nominated truly deserved it or whether it was some sort of pity vote. Such a designation would automatically consign black people to the kids table. There is a parallel to this already in the Animation category where a movie like Pixar's "Inside Out" may have made the Best Picture list if had not already been guaranteed an Oscar in a category with little competition.
For if their solution of more black studio heads and black academy members were granted, that would still not be a guarantee of recognition every single year. Why? Because the Oscars recognize merit not demographics or how much money a class of people have. People who know something about movies and pay attention to the Oscars recognize this. I certainly do not agree with all of the Academy's choices every year (as my picks will suggest) but I have seen enough of the movies to know that it isn't simply politics. More than usual the people who deserve recognition, get it. If they didn't, Oscars would not have gone to outsiders such as Marlon Brando, George C. Scott, Roman Polanski, and Woody Allen, several of whom refused to accept them. The cynicism which fuels #OscarsSoWhite is perhaps the most annoying thing about it. They probably haven't seen the movies. They chose this controversy because it was visible and immediate and with the foreknowledge that any argument it may spawn could be shouted down with all the history of slavery and segregation.
These people may then suggest that #OscarsSoWhite is helpful because it starts the argument. Anyone who has been acquainted with bad artists is familiar with this line of thinking. These are the same people that make offensively bad movies and go on to defend their incompetence by suggesting that all they care about is "reaction" or that it doesn't matter that their art lacks effort or meaning because they meant to do it that way. I strongly reject this type of nihilistic thinking. The difference between shit and art and between good political discourse and bad political discourse amount to the same thing. That the person behind it cared enough about people to put some effort into what they were doing and tried (and hopefully succeeded) in illuminating the world around us. This is something #OscarsSoWhite lacks. It got people mad at each other for stupid reasons and the real problems (which necessarily require cooperation between diverse groups of people that it sowed anger amongst) are still unsolved.
Okay here are my Oscar Picks.
BEST USE OF A SONG
It was viewed as a snub when the screenwriters of "Straight Outta Compton" were nominated because they were white. What this ignores is the power of the N.W.A. lyrics that are indispensable to the movie and probably instrumental in the reason the movie was nominated in the writing category.
"Fuck Tha Police" Straight Outta Compton
"Good Vibrations" Love and Mercy
"Something Stupid" Joy
"You Belong to Me" Carol
"Make Them Laugh" Minions
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
I only saw one foreign language film this year but it was special enough for me to include the category.
White God, Hungary
COSTUME DESIGN & MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING
I'm combining these categories because they have essentially the same nominees.
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Carol
The Hateful Eight
SOUND EDITING & SOUND MIXING
Again I'm combining categories because the nominees are the same but also because one film is going to be getting a lot of the these categories
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
The Revenant
Sicario
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Guess who?
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
The Martian
Room
Ex Machina
VISUAL EFFECTS
I actually did not understand how Mad Max: Fury Road lost this one but I really liked the movie who they lost to so I'm going to just go with the flow and spread the wealth around.
Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
The Revenant
The Martian
FILM EDITING
If Mad Max: Fury Road hadn't got every other prize I'm not sure I would be giving this to somebody else but here we are. Needles to say they both have great editing.
The Big Short
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Revenant
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Always the major story every year in this category is Roger Deakins being snubbed again. The weird thing is that for the last three years, Lubezki has straight up beaten him with some masterful cinematography
The Revenant - Emmanuel Lubezki
Sicario - Roger Deakins
Mad Max: Fury Road - John Seale
Beasts of No Nation - Cary Fukunaga
The Hateful Eight - Richard Richardson
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
If I could pick a movie that encapsulated 2015 the best it would be "Results," a movie essentially about the gig economy and how that affects relationships. I could not have been imagined five years ago and Kevin Corrigan is the best part of it.
Kevin Corrigan - Results
Mark Rylance - Bridge of Spies
Steve Carell - The Big Short
Nicholas Hoult - Mad Max: Fury Road
Tom Hardy - The Revenant
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Alicia Vikander won the Oscar for a movie I haven't seen but she may as well have won it for this movie as well.
Alicia Vikander - Ex Machina
Julie Walters - Brooklyn
Rooney Mara - Carol
Phyllis Smith - Inside Out
Sonoya Mizuno - Ex Machina
BEST ACTOR
Boy if anyone ever deserved an Oscar both for the movie he was in and for all the great movies he has been apart of it would be Dicaprio.
Leonardo Dicaprio - The Revenant
Samuel L. Jackson - The Hateful Eight
Peter Saarsgaard - Experimenter
Idris Elba - Beasts of No Nation
Guy Pearce - Results
BEST ACTRESS
It is amazing how the two most intense movies of the year, "Room" and "The Revenant," are so dissimilar to each other.
Brie Larson - Room
Cate Blanchett - Carol
Elizabeth Banks - Love and Mercy
Charlize Theron - Mad Max: Fury Road
Saoirse Ronan - Brooklyn
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
The Best Animated Film Category is B.S. and I won't be including it this year.
Inside Out - Pixar
Ex Machina
Results
Spotlight
Straight Outta Compton
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
I've studied finance and so I know how it can be to make it funny, soulful, and entertaining and still be true to the source material. Adam McKay and Charles Randolph did that masterfully in this movie.
The Big Short
The Martian
Room
The Diary of a Teenage Girl
Brooklyn
BEST DIRECTOR
I actually don't see how a movie can win every technical category and not win Best Director. This man, George Miller, did the work. I can only suspect it was because of the subject matter: post-apocalyptic road warrior grunge, which is understandable in its own way.
George Miller - Mad Max: Fury Road
Alejandro Inarritu - The Revenant
Cary Fukunaga - Beasts of No Nation
Adam McKay - The Big Short
Lenny Abrahamson - Room
BEST PICTURE
Yeah I loved this movie. I thought it was almost as good as WALL-E which I felt was one of the best movies ever made. 2015 was a great year for movies, perhaps the best since 2007. Go and see as many of these as possible.
INSIDE OUT
Mad Max: Fury Road
Results
Ex Machina
Spotlight
The Big Short
Love and Mercy
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Beasts of No Nation
