One of the presenters on Sunday evening said (and I paraphrase) that the mission of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is to promote excellence in filmmaking. Not to be glib but…really? In the decade that I have been writing this yearly list of reviews, takedowns, and potshots at Baz Luhrman, I can’t remember the Academy ever having been so disconnected from both the moviegoing audience and the critical community.
Now it is certainly no secret that the Academy does not include film critics or see eye to eye with that ill-defined group of bloggers, journalists, and broadcasters. But this year, despite nominating NINE (Seriously, how did they get that number? To go over 5 nominees under the new system, I’m pretty sure a film needs to be on at least 5% of the ballots cast and be in the top-10 in total votes. So at least 1 out of every 20 members of the Academy liked Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close…a lot) movies for Best Picture, only one of the nominees was in the top-10 of the Village Voice Critics Poll and only two graced the top-10 of the Indiewire Critics Poll. On its own, this wouldn’t be entirely shocking except that this year’s nominees weren’t even popular. Per Box Office Mojo, the highest grossing Best Picture Nominee (The Help) was only the 13th highest grossing picture of 2011 and you have to go all the way down to number 41 to find the next nominee (War Horse). In all, the 2011 Best Picture nominees averaged just over $60M in domestic box office.
Based on the numbers, it is clear that the nominees are, by and large, not popular with critics or moviegoers. So, why the hell are they being honored and how do they somehow represent “excellence in filmmaking? Sadly, the mission of the Academy is not (and, arguably, has never been) to reward excellence but rather to express the tastes of the predominantly old, white guys who run the industry. While the “groundbreaking” research done by LA Times (click the link!) does not exactly constitute an earth shattering revelation, it does shed some light on whose opinions of excellence are reflected in the Academy Awards. Now, I am not saying the Academy is racist (or ageist or sexist or any other “–ist”) but it is undeniable that the rather undifferentiated demographic makeup of its voting membership has a strong influence on which films are recognized by the Oscars. Moreover, I think it is safe to say that, unless something changes (or some of these old dudes die off), this Leonian Divide will only grow, giving us an even clearer differentiation between the Good, the Popular, and the Oscar.
But enough about the Oscar process…on to the Paulies!
