by ALLAN STRATTON
The Oscars have never been about art. As Louis B. Mayer once remarked, recalling the creation of his brainchild, “I found that the best way to handle [moviemakers] was to hang medals all over them. If I got them cups and awards, they’d kill themselves to produce what I wanted. That’s why the Academy Award was created.” Awards had the further benefit of projecting an aura of respectability on a field then associated with vaudeville and debauchery. The awards’ host, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, was created for the same reason—and to handle labour disputes without unions (postmodernists are hardly the first to use language to redefine reality). Besides, an awards event hosted by an organization with a highbrow name created plenty of free publicity.
Nevertheless, the Academy Awards became a global opportunity to celebrate movies—to argue about the shows we loved, hated, and missed, and to fight over Oscar nominations and snubs. In a fragmented world, a communal conversation like this is no small thing. Audiences have been in a tailspin for decades; streaming has expanded our viewing options, reducing the viewership for nominated titles and our emotional investment in the outcome. The proliferation of award shows also means that the Oscars are no longer the biggest mass-fashion event of the year. And as attention spans have declined, the Oscars’ spectacle and speeches seem to last forever. (If only a nominee slapped the host every year.) And yet, Oscar parties still abound, and even if we don’t watch the show, we check the news for nominees and winners we’ve neither seen nor heard of.
With that in mind, here are some thoughts on this year’s Best Picture nominees for those who’d like to refresh or catch up, ranked according to my own preference from worst to best. There are no plot spoilers, although I include the premise of each film and reference a few specific scenes outside their narrative context.
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