Award Season
CARLOS ALVAREZ | MARCH 23, 2022 | OPINIONS
Following the announcement of nominations for the yearly Oscars, hosted by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, are often reactions that begin with some form of “but the academy’s opinion doesn’t matter.” A once relatively respected establishment has experienced a dip in viewership and respect in recent years because of various factors. These elements ultimately boil down to a stagnation in their process of evaluating films to be considered for their awards. This pattern of disreputation continues to go unbroken after the announcement of the 2022 ceremony’s exclusion of eight key awards (excluding all representation for short films in its main show) from its telecast. With the nominations for this year’s 94th Academy Awards generally appeasing film lovers and critics, a variety of trends have further embedded themselves into the bias of the academy’s selection.
One large factor contributing to this decline in importance is a token approach to foreign films that fails to acknowledge cinema as a global medium. This year, director and screenwriter Rysuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” received a Best Picture nomination which is monumental for Japan’s influence in film along with global films altogether. But in a year filled with foreign films making it into American wide releases, a plethora of projects went unacknowledged in this category and others. Joachim Trier’s “The Worst Person in the World,” which only began its limited release in early February, received two nominations but lacked a Best Picture nomination that caused some controversy. “Belle,” a film that even made the shortlist for Best Animated Feature, also saw no final nomination with the only foreign nomination in the category being the Danish film “Flee.”
This inclination towards American releases and particularly films distributed by The Walt Disney Co. has been the most upsetting example of foreign exclusion by the academy in recent years, especially with the category [Best Animated Feature] not requiring Academy members to see all its nominees before voting. The 2020 Best Picture award being given to the Korean film “Parasite” was revolutionary but demonstrates that organizations like the academy hold the power to popularize film both as an art form and as a source of entertainment in a global sense; and yet, they resist doing so to balance appeal with credibility. This is not to say that any of these films had to be nominated in these categories, but a focus on American releases paints the foreign nomination for Best Picture as tokenistic and a less sincere acknowledgement of one of 2021’s best films, while shedding light on the overall lack of foreign recognition.
Genre is also an exclusionary factor noticed in Academy Award nominations which is seen in the absence of films like “The Green Knight,” “The Last Duel,” and “Titane” in any category. “The Last Duel” used a rashomon-esque story structure in portraying the #MeToo movement through the shift in perspectives associated with power dynamics, doing so through a relatively historically accurate medieval story that could be compared to modern conversations about rape and consent, yielding alarming similarities. However, the film’s thrice retelling of the same story within its long runtime, bundled with its setting in medieval France, made it a tougher sell for audiences and held it back from any recognition within most film awards ceremonies. Similarly, David Lowery’s “The Green Knight” was another critic favorite with a late summer release that used its medieval setting to contemplate on honor and promise in a unique way. Its inventive mis en scéne and use of effects also caused critics to crown it as one of the most visually inventive films of the year – yet it lacks most of the key components of an “Oscar-worthy” film which have been broken down to a science, which is another issue formed in the public eye in recent years. “Titane,” popularly considered to be the most appalling of these exclusions, experimented within the horror genre and utilized it in expressing the confines of gender, easily making it one of the most talked about films of 2021. But its lack of accessibility for the general public and audience of the awards was likely the cause of its absence on the ballots. The constant within these three films is a theme of “accessibility” that specific genres do not hold for every viewer but beg the question of the role of these awards. Critic and industry nominated awards function to be as objective as possible yet often exclude films for a lack of approachability, and causes viewers to wonder if the awards themselves are at fault for the closed-mindedness of modern audiences. Is lukewarm reception to more extreme genre pieces due to a lack of acknowledgement by them within the zeitgeist as important contributions to culture? The cycle cited for this lack of representation and narrow scope of the academy’s acknowledgement arguably starts with committees like it and its partiality to the final point in the academy’s lack of representation, “Oscar Bait.”
Oscar Bait is a term thats popularity has risen in recent years as the academy has tapered their scope of nominations to the point of their critics, as previously stated, condensing it into a science. Oscar Bait films deal with modern issues in a very approachable and superficial manner that balance technical competence with their simplicity to intrigue viewers. Institutions like the academy in recent years have assessed this pleasant and easily watchable quality as superior to films that are more difficult to watch, watering down the medium. This is a slippery slope that can lead to the studio system’s automation to produce films without an urge to break their cycles. Films like “Red Rocket'' and “Annette,” two very unconventional works by highly respected filmmakers, are not coveted for how entertained audiences and critics are watching them, but rather for their brilliant craft in executing less digestible stories. Even as Wes Anderson, a previous Best Director nominee of a film also nominated for Best Picture, ascended to a new level of his storybook aesthetic and intricate filmmaking style with “The French Dispatch,” his bold visual and storytelling choices were not recognized by many committees. These exclusions are only further noticeable as directors like Aaron Sorkin and Adam McKay have found a niche of “Oscar Bait'' by discussing topical issues without much subtext. Looking to the Best Director category, Hamaguchi is the only first-time nominee, further epitomizing very clear ingroups of both directors and the kinds of films that are recognized that are slowly populating. Without rewarding films for breaking conventions, the academy fails to acknowledge cinema as an adaptive medium that has peaked in moments when filmmakers deviated from the kinds of movies being made in their times. This tunnel vision, as seen in this ideal quality but also in the exclusion of films from it, is extremely troubling for the future of film as an expressive and inclusive artform.
These issues do not necessarily invalidate the opinions of these associations, as film is a subjective medium, but trends in their nominations show an inclination towards films fitting specific groups. As a result of these trends, films that are masterfully crafted and well received can still go unacknowledged by influential institutions like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Because of their impact on the public, It is important that they highlight diverse films in subject matter and perspective, along with ensuring that they evolve with the art form in recognizing unique films, even if audiences may not initially seek these pictures out or find them “easy to watch.”