First, the good news:
#HairLove is Oscar nominated!!!!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/so8NEnrmDr
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) January 13, 2020
And yet, the Oscars remain very much a white men’s club, which wouldn’t matter if so many peoples’ livelihoods weren’t riding on the attention. When a director / actor / writer / production company can be rewarded with precious millions worth of attention, or relegated to ‘that arthouse streaming filmschool hobby stuff’, it’s not just entertainment…
To @TheAcademy, You disqualified Nigeria’s first-ever submission for Best International Feature because its in English. But English is the official language of Nigeria. Are you barring this country from ever competing for an Oscar in its official language? https://t.co/X3EGb01tPF
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) November 4, 2019
Last year their excuse was that Netflix is American despite Roma being a Mexican movie, but now Bong Joon-Ho has played the room so well that his 100% Korean production is getting the English language movie treatment with no acknowledgement about how isolated everything else is
— The Occupation is Bad (@MenshevikM) January 13, 2020
Baby steps — people got twitter where they can be bitter…
The Academy narrowly avoiding an Oscars So White by nominating exactly one performer of color in an acting category, but nominating her for playing Harriet Tubman, feels like an on-the-nose joke in an episode of The Critic.
— Emily VanDerWerff (@tvoti) January 13, 2020
Black people can have a little slavery movie nomination, as a treat.
— Lil Uzi Hurt (@lostblackboy) January 13, 2020
Based on what Oscar voters seem to prefer from black actors and films (oppression, slavery, white saviorism and magical negroes), I seriously think I’ve created the perfect black Oscar-winning movie.
It’s called Harriet Tubman Time Machine.
More details tomorrow.
— michaelharriot (@michaelharriot) January 14, 2020
(Harriot’s post here.)
Baud
Racism is now respite? Jeez.
prostratedragon
Wonder how many messages Mr. Harriot will get on his voice mail?
zhena gogolia
The Oscars are so tedious. This is not to take away from the issue raised in the OP, but this twitter thread about all the fabulous actors who never won an Oscar is very interesting.
patrick II
@Baud:
It’s been normalized.
gwangung
“Someone who knows something about film should write about how WOC only get Oscar noms for playing maids and slaves who SUFFER. While white women get Oscar wins for playing queens and trying to sing. Always gotta be twice as good….”
https://twitter.com/diepthought/status/1216800875454304258
“The Farewell getting snubbed while Marriage Story gets all the noms shows that when white men do a domestic story, it’s deep and universal, but Asian-American family stories are niche and alien. Also, you can nominate her twice but ScarJo is still not Asian’
https://twitter.com/diepthought/status/1216759844289548291
VeniceRiley
I can’t think of another year when I haven’t found a single film I’m interested in seeing and several nominees to root for. This time? MEH. I feel old and crotchety!
debbie
They need to find a way to open up who gets to vote to nominate films.
NotMax
As mentioned below it is a whole new landscape when Netflix receives the most nominations of any studio.
Brachiator
I hate stupid bullshit like this. Just hate it. Harriot seems intent on revisiting the lies and smears against this film, which originated with people who never even saw it.
Some years, I manage to see a good chunk of the most lauded films. The year that Moonlight won big, I think I had seen all the Best Picture contenders.
I haven’t seen most of the films this year, but when people complain about the Oscars, and often the complaints have merit, I always want to ask, what films should have been nominated?
I think, for example, that Us could have won some acting nominations. The disqualification of the Nigerian film seems exceptionally stupid. And ignorant.
Also, no woman merited a best director nomination? Really?
Ten Bears
All just make-believe.
VFX Lurker
@gwangung:
I saw a free screening of HARRIET last year, and I think it breaks that mold. Yes, Harriet Tubman suffers. However, she also conquers. The end of the film has her riding heroically off into the sunset and returning with black Union troops.
I saw a lot of disinformation spread about HARRIET on Twitter by folks who had not seen the film. I hope the writer of that tweet saw the film.
clay
@Brachiator: The Best International Film award was, up until this year, called the Best Foreign Language Award. From Wikipedia:
So if English is indeed Nigeria’s official language, then the film is clearly ineligible for this award.
Now, if you want to say that the Academy should change the rules of this award, or maybe create a separate award that focuses on a film’s country of origin, rather than its language, then fine. (Although I strongly suspect that such a category would be dominated by the UK, Australia, Canada, etc… avoiding which is why the rule was set up the way it was in the first place!)
But to complain that the Academy follows the clear and understandable rules already in place, which frankly Nigeria should have known before even submitting the film, seems like kicking shit up just to raise a stink.
oatler.
http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2020/01/my-thoughts-on-oscar-nominations.html
schrodingers_cat
@VFX Lurker: I saw Harriet, I liked it but thought it was a bit thin on the details. I would give it a A-. Was a bit like a Gandhi, we met Harriet the hero, which she was but not Harriet the person.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
They nominated “Little Women” but snubbed director Greta Gerwig. What a rip off.
Brachiator
@clay:
I knew about the change. I still think it was a stupid decision. But I think the Academy often makes stupid decisions. Some year, what 50 films are nominated for Best Picture? Dumb.
I can call a decision dumb and not think that an evil has been done.
Martin
I think this was put in place to keep Strange Brew from sweeping all categories.
Yutsano
@Martin: It was a stunning piece of Canadian cinematography.
Martin
Academy really dodged a bullet having Julia Roberts snubbed for that role.
NotMax
With advances in CGI they’re going to have to amend the rules for acting nominations to read “living at the time of filming.”
Brachiator
@gwangung:
Yawn. It used to be that white women got nominated for playing prostitutes. Elizabeth Taylor for Butterfield 8, Jane Fonda for Klute.
zhena gogolia
@Brachiator:
ONLY for playing prostitutes? I think you’ve missed the point.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Better yet; Harriet Tubman Terminator; were Skynet send one of it’s terminators back to the Pre-Civil War south to kill Tubman because she is the inspiration of the anti-machine resistance. Have all kinds of social commentary disguised as a mindless action movie.
Brachiator
@zhena gogolia:
Wow. A Kay Francis mention.
She is one of the stars of Trouble in Paradise, directed by Ernst Lubitsch, and one of the most delightful and perfect comedies of all time.
At one time, I think she was one of the most highly paid actresses in Hollywood. Also had a slight lisp and rumored to be an inspiration for Elmer Fudd.
scav
It’s a lot easier to remember the Oscars aren’t about the quality of the movies but rather a thinnly veiled hell of a party an in-crowd throws itself and sequentially pats itself on the back with.
schrodingers_cat
Is it just me who finds Little Women boring? I read it and liked it as a teen. But I don’t really need to see elbentieth version of it.
Brachiator
@zhena gogolia:
Not at all. Just as Harriet Tubman was not “simply” a slave who suffered.
But there is a 1996 NY Times article titled, “Play a Hooker and Win an Oscar.” It notes that the first Best Actress Oscar went to Janet Gaynor for playing a prostitute in Street Angel. She also won for two other films. The rules were strange back then.
NotMax
@David Merry Christmas Koch
Two points:
1) There are more slots available for pictures nominated as Best than there are slots for nominations for directing, so some director(s) of pictures nominated for Best will always be left out of nomination for the latter category.
2) The entirety of eligible voters in the Academy do not vote on nominations other than for Best Picture. Best Director nominations are limited to voting from the director segment of the membership. As the pool of voters in each category is so different one can expect the roster of nominations to differ too.
Nicole
John Rogers, of Kung Fu Monkey Crazification Factor fame, tweeted something yesterday along the lines of people who think the Oscars are about rewarding the best films/performances of the year are the same ones who think defense contacts are about providing the best for American security.
Immanentize
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Really? Do you think diversity is tokenism? Gotta have a woman? I thought Little Women was an odd revamp. Great acting, but why the storyline butchery? You might disagree!
But the idea that Greta Gerwig directed better than Sam Mendes or Bong Yoon-Ho and MUST BE RECOGNIZED!!!12!!
Is shit from the male cow.
Awards suck. They are not Chanecellorsville.
But the fact that we can fire muskets from another country about a friggin glamour parade is what we need?
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: I was thinking the same thing.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@prostratedragon:
Oh, I’m sure he’ll get plenty of death threats from chuds crusading against the evil Es Jay Dws
germy
Increasingly Unwell Harvey Weinstein Arrives To Court As Jar Of Ashes
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Enhanced Voting Techniques:
Jokes aside, Terminator 2 was a very smart action sci-fi movie imo. The best in the franchise. As much as Terminator 3 gets shit on, I liked it quite a bit
MomSense
Well it’s about a film but not exactly respite worthy. My son’s class is doing an extended project on voices of Maine and they are watching the documentary Dawnland. We’ve been debriefing. I’m really pleased they are being exposed to this, but the tears have been flowing.
Here is a pbs article about the documentary.
https://www.google.com/amp/www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/filmmakers-seek-the-truth-in-eye-opening-story-of-forced-native-child-separation/amp/?client=safari Dawnland
Immanentize
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Olivia Coleman, prostitute?
I can do this for fifty.years, I suspect.
CaseyL
@Immanentize:
Nominating a movie for Best Picture (which Little Women is) without nominating its Director seems a bit odd, no? Who puts their stamp on the movie more than the Director?
I liked the latest Little Women just fine – its rearrangement of chronology emphasizes each character’s development, and does a lot to freshen a much-retold story – but I don’t think it’s necessarily better than the 1994 version, which I frankly adore.
This is a year in which I have seen more of the Best picture noms than, I think, ever before. But not all of them, not by a long chalk. I’m not going to opine on who got snubbed, because the Oscars are FAMOUS for elevating films which are quickly forgotten, and snubbing films which become classics.
Caphilldcne
@clay: let’s be clear. Best international award implies something very different than best non-English language film. So no. Not buying this.
Van Buren
@Brachiator: Audrey Hepburn won an Oscar for playing a call girl.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@germy:
LOL the Onion is still pretty funny, even in this crazy era
Immanentize
@Ten Bears: This
BTW, You are many bears
Immanentize
@CaseyL: Do you know the answer to your own question?
VeniceRiley
Was it 1998 when Whoopi hosted, and, while standing onstage, rattled off all the female nominees that year whose role was prostitute?
I don’t know where I read it back in the day, but a lot of male studio executives’ notes involve adding prostitutes.
MomSense
I only watch the Oscars for the fashion.
NotMax
@Immanentize
Yeah, for all we’ll ever know (vote numbers to follow pulled out of thin air for demonstration purposes) the person who snagged the 5th (and final) Best Director nomination conceivably might have received 200 votes and Gerwig missed the cut by receiving 199.
Baud
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Arnold was robbed by the Oscars that year.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
I preferred Big Women myself, but they always snub PornHub at the Oscars.
NotMax
@MomSense
Nominations still open for Best Boob Job.
:)
Tom Q
@Van Buren: Um, no: she won for playing a princess in Roman Holiday. She was nominated for Breakfast at Tiffany’s; I assume that’s what you’re referencing.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: it’s the soft respite of low expectations.
Spanky
Will Billy Porter be on the red carpet?
MomSense
@Spanky:
Dog I hope so. He’s fabulous! Did you see the green gown he wore to The Critics’ Choice Awards?
NotMax
As it’s a freewheeling visual media thread will but in a plug for Thieves of the Wood on Netflix, with the caveat that I’m hooked but only part of the way through the 10 episodes so have not reached a final verdict yet.
Certainly doesn’t shy from paintiing the mid-18th century as a pretty dismal time to be alive.
Immanentize
@CaseyL:
I have no idea, and neither, clearly, do you. Make with the stats?
MomSense
@NotMax:
Ha! I’m finally getting around to watching Anne with an E. Have to watch it in slowly, though because it is an emotional ride.
Spanky
@Baud: Methinks you’ve just lit the BillinGlendale signal.
I do believe that subset of the industry has its own awards.
zhena gogolia
@Brachiator:
She’s one of my idols.
zhena gogolia
@schrodingers_cat:
I am so sick of the story, but James Norton is in this version so I had to see it. (His part was a nothingburger, as I expected.) It’s very well done, but yeah, I hope it doesn’t get made again. It doesn’t hold up as well as Jane Austen.
Roger Moore
@scav:
And an important part of this is that the Oscars have a major genre problem. Nominations are almost exclusively for movies in the Very Serious Drama genre*, though an occasional musical can sneak in. No matter how well the movie is made or how great the performances, anything in the Action Adventure, Comedy, or Horror genre has almost zero chance of getting a nomination in a prestige category, though they can get nominations in a technical category like sound editing, visual effects, costumes and hair styling, or the like. Hollywood will heap plaudits on an actor who starves himself to look like a concentration camp survivor, gorges himself to play the overweight subject of a Biopic, or learns to cry on command, but they don’t give a damn about one who puts on 50 pounds of muscle and learns martial arts so he can convincingly play a superhero or one who has mastered comedic timing and slapstick.
*Including such sub-genres as Period Dramas, Biopics, and Serious War Movies.
Immanentize
@NotMax: Just so!
germy
Immanentize
@NotMax: and go with the subtitles!
Immanentize
@germy: Golly. That is such a hard question isn’t it? Not easy.
Rothko
Brachiator
@zhena gogolia:
Is this the James Norton who is the current favorite to be the next James Bond?
Another remake of Emma opening soon. It looks like fun, judging by the trailer.
clay
@Caphilldcne: I don’t know or care about what the name implies. The award is what it is, which is recognition of a non-English language film. Did the name change confuse the issue? Perhaps! I’m certainly not going to defend the Academy’s decision there.
But regardless, the eligibility rules for the Award are open and clear. If I were submitting a film for an award, I would certainly read the rules beforehand, and I certainly wouldn’t be shocked if I didn’t win the award if I failed to meet the requirements.
(Interesting side note: the award is not granted to an individual, but rather to the nation that submits it. So if Nigeria wants to get this award in the future, it can try submitting a film in one it’s three other major languages, or one of its dozens of minor ones!)
Brachiator
@Baud:
Snort!
Omnes Omnibus
@NotMax: I am on Episode 2. It is moving pretty slowly. I’ll stick with it a bit as it looks like it will liven up once the scene is set.
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
Yeah, the pace is … leisurely. Half hour episodes as opposed to 45 minutes would have served to tighten things up, but the full cast of characters is so large that I can understand them opting for the longer format. Interesting hearing people speaking Flemish. The new bailiff as a man of forward-looking principles is refreshing.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
I never said Greta Gerwig should be nominated because she’s a woman, I said she should be nominated because I liked her film.
Geez, I had no idea Greta Gerwig triggered the Stonecutters.
Felanius Kootea
The Nigerians I know have mixed feelings about Lionheart getting disqualified. Some echo what Ava Duvernay said and argue that Nigerian English is different enough from US English that Lionheart should have been fine because it features Nigerian English, Igbo, Pidgin English and Hausa. Others feel that the filmmaker could have shot the whole thing in different Nigerian languages and used English subtitles (even if that’s not how language is actually used in the Nigerian corporate world depicted in Lionheart).
Unlike many Francophone African countries, Nigeria’s film industry, Nollywood, is completely homegrown with no support (and originally, no interest) from the Nigerian government. When Nollywood started to get attention across Africa and then across the globe (see the Nollywood in Hollywood series at USC), the Nigerian government still ignored it (no money-making or extortion opportunities for government officials).
Genevieve Nnaji is one of Nollywood’s best known actresses. She wrote, directed and acted in Lionheart (which is on Netflix), featured cars and buses from Nigeria’s first homegrown auto manufacturer (Innoson Motors) and is one of a handful of women directors transforming Nollywood. So just getting her film to be the first official submission from Nigeria was a big deal. Nigeria has over 200 distinct languages, so after the British left and we decided to make a go of it as a country, we stuck with English as the official language. Lionheart accurately depicts how people speak – switching from language to language depending on the location and situation. Watch it on Netflix if you can.
Other Nigerian movies directed by women I’d recommend on Netflix: Isoken (Sex and the City style comedy from 2018 directed by Jade Osiberu), King of Boys (gangster movie from 2019 directed by Kemi Adetiba – it’s over 3 hours long though, my husband couldn’t get through it).
ETA: King of Boys won the Africa Movie Academy Award for best Nigerian film of 2019.
Oh and also check out the serial killer/murder mystery movie October 1, set in the 1960s and directed by Kunle Afolayan (2014).
Immanentize
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Welllll. Not really, right? Maybe you were secretly thinking that without saying that. But secretly.
BTW what did you like most about the film?
clay
@Felanius Kootea: This is, no joke, some excellent and appreciated context.
Brachiator
@Felanius Kootea:
Thank you very much for the background on the film, and on the Nigerian film industry.
Citizen Alan
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
People keep saying that, but they nominated nine films for best picture but only five for best director (and every other category). So whatever they did, four best picture directors were gonna get snubbed. The fact that they allow more Best Picture nominees than they do for any other category guarantees somebody gets snubbed.
Oh, and of those five Best Director slots, Scorsese, Mendes, and Tarantino all had well-received films, so they were all but guaranteed one of those spots and you’re really only talking about two openings. Now if you want to argue that the direction of Little Women was better than that of The Joker or Parasite, that’s cool, but that’s the only way a female director would have gotten a nod this year.
Citizen Alan
@gwangung:
I’ll concede that POC women don’t get the the roles they deserve, but this comment is demonstrably not true.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Baud:
Really? I never knew that. Was the Academy especially snobby that year?
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: That LOL worthy!
sab
Matthew Cherry was a wide receiver at Akron U! My grandkids will be thrilled. I am also. How did an obviously cool guy from Chicago end up here?
Brachiator
@Citizen Alan:
I don’t think that either Joker or The Irishman merited Best Director nods.
Feathers
@Felanius Kootea: Thanks for this! Will check these out. There is so much international content on Netflix, but I must confess I want to know what the locals consider the good stuff before diving in.
One note on the foreign language/international film rules: back in the day the no English rule was created to help support films made in local languages. It’s to support the international film industry, which is why each countries film trade association chooses which film to nominate. That said, there should be a way to ask for an exception to be made to the English language requirement, including the dialect argument you made.
It’s kind of crazy that South Korea, which has been making great films for a while, had to make one good enough to get a best picture nomination to get a best international nomination.
Roger Moore
@Citizen Alan:
This is exactly the kind of process people are complaining about. People should look at the movies as if they didn’t know who directed them and pick the best ones. They shouldn’t say “this movie was good and was directed by a famous director, so he should get a best director nomination”. That kind of thinking is exactly what makes it difficult for outsiders to get a break.
sab
@sab: Not end up, but pass through. Beacon Journal put him on front page. And we have had other successes, but they started here. They didn’t move here from Chicago.
Feathers
@schrodingers_cat: I see the thread thinks differently, but I really enjoyed it. Saw it a second time, which I rarely do. Had not even planned on seeing it once.
It takes the story fully into the sisters young adult lives and the creative lives of Amy and Jo, contrasted with the different choices made by Marmie and Meg.
Feathers
About what the thread is about: I can see the lack of diversity in the nominations.leading to the number of nominations in the acting field being upped to six. Widening the number of Best Pictures noms increased diversity there.
The academy has been deeply disappointing me ever since Ordinary People beat out Raging Bull. I totally agree with the diversity complaints, but so often they overlap with ordinary Academy garbage. Out was a horror film which did not have the sort of cultural impact that Get Out did. Voters did not watch. No nom for Lupita. Boo! Hustlers was directed by a woman, voters did not watch. No nom for JLo. Boo!
As was noted above, hookers used to be Oscar bait characters. Eight actresses have won Best Supporting Actress for playing prostitutes! Add Liza Minnelli in Cabaret, Michelle Pfeiffer in Fabulous Baker Boys – who was robbed! Here’s a FTFNYT Article from 1996 on Play a Hooker and Win an Oscar
sab
@Felanius Kootea: I have been dragging my heels on Netflix. You just convinced me. Content I can’t get elsewhere, and didn’t know I should watch?