What is Oscar Telling Us?

How does the Academy feel about you? -- Picture courtesy Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
I was looking at yesterday's Oscar nominations, noting how few of the nominated films (Babel, Little Miss Sunshine) I've actually seen. Then Dreamgirls, everyone's shoo-in favorite, the one that I saw, was shut out of the Best Film category -- bummer. In my old age, I only go see two movies a year at the theater. Also, the movies I do see blur together unless there is something really unique happening in the plot line.

Must say that the Oscars have never made much sense to me; comparisons in any category are inherently apples-to-oranges. You would need to compare two actors doing the exact same role, with same director and costars to figure who is genuinely best. You have anomalies where one-hit-wonders snag an Oscar never to be heard from again. It's called the "Oscar Curse". You have venerable careerists like Paul Newman who go most of a career without one; (he was finally given an honorary award in 1985, and actually won Best Actor in 1988 for Color of Money). You have the purist like George C Scott, who upon his 1971 nomination for Patton, called the Oscars a "meat parade" and maybe he was right. You also have the political opportunist who uses his acceptance speech as a chance to bash Bush or make a plea for Native Americans.

What does Oscar really measure? Let me explain that. Sally Field said it best when she won for Places in the Heart in 1985 and blurted out, "You like me!" for her acceptance speech. The Oscar award says who is the schmooziest, most popular person, the person with the greatest "cool" factor. The only time this isn't the case is when nobody cool is nominated (technical categories) or the Academy is less familiar with the choices (foreign films). In these cases, originality and talent come into play. TV Emmys follow much the same logic as Oscars. Roseanne Barr was excellent in her role as the wife and mother on Roseanne in the 90's. She would've been a multi-Emmy shoo-in but is said to have pissed off half of the Hollywood elite with impolitic remarks. She was probably on target with her remarks, but you don't speak truth to power in Hollywood. The same rule applies be it TV or movies.

So, as you go thru Oscar lore and see that The Sting won Best Picture in 1973 -- keep in mind the schmooze factor. Who blew the most smoke and who campaigned the hardest for an award? Oscars are still valuable as cultural milestones, telling us where we were at a point in time. But don't ever fool yourself that they tell you who was best in any particular category. The "Roger Ebert Within" will have to tell you that, the frustrated movie critic that lives inside all of us.

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