Lighten up, Hollywood!
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Tonight, we’re doing a story on the Oscar nominations–the politics of who gets nominated and why. Vicki Mabrey will take a look at what this year’s crop of nominees tells us about the politics and culture of the Hollywood voters who chose them.
One thing’s for certain, though, as far as I’m concerned. The Oscars are too serious–way too serious.
Think about it. Long, solemn, heavy movies always seem to get the nod over light romantic comedies and farces. Somewhere along the way, the Oscars got "English-Patient-ed."
And why should this be? Ask any actor, writer or director of film comedy. It’s an art–a high and difficult art. Timing, wordplay, pratfalls, pacing–great comedy takes great talent. And making people laugh, making them happily believing in happy-ever-afters, even if only for a few moments, is at least as honorable an artistic endeavor as confronting them with some version of the grim side of life. We’d love Shakespeare less if he’d never given us Beatrice and Benedick.
And Hollywood has always given us froth and farce and romance with tremendous panache. Think of Bringing Up Baby. Hilarious. Flawless. And ignored by the Academy.
You could make a case that the best movie of the 1990s was Groundhog Day. Not a false step in it–except for Bill Murray’s stumbling into the puddle of slush over and over. It’s a movie that’s entered the language, and changed the meaning of that old holiday. But–ignored by the Academy. (Of course, Murray was later nominated for the far more serious, and far inferior, Lost in Translation–and then he lost out to the overacting Sean Penn in the–you guessed it–waaayyyy-serious Mystic River.)
And on and on it goes. Pick almost any year in the last quarter-century or so, and you’ll see Hollywood’s comedic genius disrespected. Example: 1981. Why did the deadening Ordinary People win for Best Picture the year Airplane was made? How does that make sense? Which movie would you rather watch today?
Now, I’m as big a fan of serious movies and big costume epics as the next person–unless the next person likes Closer. And I realize some comedies are honored every year–Borat got a screenwriting nomination this year.
I just wish the Hollywood types who vote on the Oscars gave a little more credit to one of the things Hollywood does best: Make us laugh.
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I agree with your premise. The biggest “huh?” for this year’s nominations is clearly Sacha Baron Cohen’s snub for Best Actor.
That being said, some of your examples of unworthy, “too serious” movies are way off the mark. It’s a coincidence you were able to slam three of my favorite films – “The English Patient,” “Lost in Translation” and “Closer” – all in one fell swoop. All in one thin analysis.
Oh wait, there *was* no analysis. You just enumerated movies that were across-the-board critically acclaimed and therefore, in your mind, tantamount to pretentious.
What’s ironic is that a central theme in all three of these films is how ephemeral interactions of chance can affect your life as deeply and as meaningfully those who have been there for years. Sometimes more so.
My guess is that you have either never experienced this in your life or you just didn’t watch closely enough to pick up on this message when you saw these films.
At least you didn’t speak ill of “Pretty Woman.” Had you done that, this would have been an essay of epic proportions.
Posted by: Vidalia_Girl | January 24, 2007, 8:18 pm 8:18 pm
Another question might be why does hollywood feel it necessary to subject us to…how many award shows? Sag, People’s Choice, Golden Globe, Oscar…gimme a break. How many times can these people pat themselves on the back. I find it tiresome that whatever movies are released in November and December are the ones that will be nominated. The oscars used to mean something when we weren’t overwhelmed with award shows and film festivals at every turn…now it’s more a popularity and dvd sale/rental promotional tactic. Oscars are becomming as irrelevant as the Grammys.
Posted by: Qibai | January 24, 2007, 10:31 pm 10:31 pm
If today’s comedies had the wit, subtlety, and genuine humor of past comedy classics such as the previously mentioned “Bringing Up Baby” or “It Happened One Night” (which won the Oscar for Best Picture), then perhaps we would see more of these movies get Oscar nominations. Whenever I show “It Happened One Night” in class (I teach college film courses), my students LOVE it! Some of them also say that Hollywood doesn’t make really good comedies anymore. Flatulence and other bodily functions, crude language and sexuality are the tools of so-called comedy today. Even “Borat,” which was such a hit and got rave reviews, was replete with bad taste and bad language. It’s sad that the only place you can find good comedy is in animated films such as “Shrek” and “Happy Feet.”
Posted by: Robert | January 31, 2007, 10:20 pm 10:20 pm