Do Action and Superhero Movies deserve more recognition at the Oscars?
Hollywood’s Academy Awards show or the Oscars have definitely fallen on some hard times as of late. While the awards show is still respected by many, it’s definitely lost it's…magic. Nowadays you are more likely to see Major Criticism or controversy around the ceremony than you would have, just over 10 years ago. It’s almost astronomical how quickly public perception of the Academy Awards has gone done.
I mean it’s unprecedented if I’m being honest. And that goes to the recent decline in viewership as well.
Almost consistently the ratings and viewer ships of the ceremony have been on a steep decline since 2014 onwards, with each preceding ceremony holding a controversy of some sort(a particular slap comes to mind)
Some have blamed it on the fact that the show seems to drag on for too long and perhaps reducing the length of the broadcast would help in pulling new viewers, which is why The Academy decided to award some categories off screen, without televising it which….is a whole another category of stupidity that I don’t have time to discuss here.
However one of the other major reasons being discussed amongst the internet is seemingly how disconnected the Academy seems to be with the general audience. A Common thing I’ve heard about the Oscars is that a lot of the films that they nominate in major categories such as Best Picture, Best Director,etc seems to be films nobody has seen or heard of until they were nominated.
I won’t lie and say that I’ve checked out every film that receives major nominations, in fact for the most part I haven’t.
People seem to think that the academy intentionally leaves out films from certain genres out for consideration. Particularly Action films and Superhero Films.
Now it is true that Action films and Superhero films do not always provide subliminal messages, thought provoking narratives or extensive intellectual thoughts but…. that shouldn’t be a reason to immediately remove them from considerations.
A Film’s quality shouldn’t be judged always on the same merits aside from whether it has good acting, competent directing and a logical Storyline.
A movie should have it’s quality judged based on what it’s trying to accomplish and how well it accomplishes that goal. Spider Man No Way Home is a excellent Film that captures feelings of nostalgia while simultaneously providing a great standalone film. It’s arguably the most popular movie of last year(with exceptions of course) and certainly the highest grossing film of last year. But is it a good film for the same reasons as…. Call Me By Your Name?
Absolutely not.
Each Film tries to achieve something different and that should be commended. Not every Movie has to be a deep dive into the human psychology that explores themes of humanity’s oncoming doom in the near future.
However there’s another side to this argument as well.
Often while there is a good action or superhero film out there, that deserves to be put amongst the academy’s greatest, oftentimes there are also superhero films that are….not.
Sometimes people seem to confuse the term “popularity” for the term “quality”. A Popular movie does not always equate to a amazing movie. Those are two completely irrelevant things to each other. However the popularity sometimes carries a Film’s Oscar campaign and that’s where the Academy should draw the line.
At the same time it’s incredibly obvious that the Academy will not let superhero films or action/Sci-fi wins win over “Real Films” more often than not. Films Like Logan, Black Panther, Casino Royale, Skyfall all deserved more recognition from the higher ups at Hollywood but were simply tossed aside due to the genre they occupy.
Recently the Academy tried to look like they were legitimately trying to listen to this criticism but hosting two “fan” awards. The Oscars Cheer Moment and the Oscars Fan Favorite contest where fans on social media should use the respective hashtags to vote for their favorite films in those categories and while this is indeed a cool way to get your favorite movies up for the academy( It was very cool seeing the movies I voted for Win these two categories) that doesn’t change the fact that these are simply an attempt by the academy to save face rather than make any actual changes. As far As I’m aware these awards are simply a title and none of the film’s cast and crew receives anything else. No Trophies, No Acceptance speech, hell the films that won didn’t even have their crew on the Oscars Room.
So all in all it was simply a attempt by the academy to look like they were making changes when in reality they really weren’t.
So the situation’s pretty messy as of now, but hopefully the academy starts learning from it’s mistakes sooner rather than later, because if they don’t perhaps the Oscars will fade into obscurity soon enough.
