Oscars 2019

[Bad Ambassador]

And heck last year the incredibly bland Shape Of Water won which was oscar bait personified.

It's about a woman who fucks a fish-man.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Absolutely every conversation about anything in 2019 has to descend into some tedious theorising about to what degree such and such an institution has been infiltrated by 'wokeness' or 'SJWism'. Just shut the fuck up for Christ's sake

[Sebastian Cobb]

It's the least interesting awards thing that concerns film. Far more interested about what ends up getting awards at things like Sundance and Cannes.

[Piggyoioi]

I actually enjoyed green book. couple of cheesy cringe inducing scenes but overall much funnier than any comedy this year and with good performances all round. i expect most of the backlash are people getting a buzz from signalling their obviously much more refined wokeness.

[Funcrusher]

It's the least interesting awards thing that concerns film.

Very true. There are undoubtedly more interesting films in competition at Cannes every year by its very nature. Sundance winners, to the extent that I notice them, can tend to be a kind of hipper version of Oscarbait but still better than the Oscars.

[Pearly-Dewdrops Drops]

Green Book seemed like perfectly fine middlebrow nonsense. The percentage of people outraged by it winning who have actually seen the movie has to be <5%.

If you want to talk about a patronizing take on race relations, I'm much more offended by the universe collectively pretending that Black Panther was a great movie simply because it was the first Marvel movie to take place in comic book Africa. Why not reward black filmmakers actually making excellent movies, like If Beale Street Could Talk which was snubbed despite being better than any of the Best Picture nominees this year.

[Schnapple]

The thing is, Green Book is basically a film that exists to serve the purpose of reminding us that racism is bad, and that we should all try and get along. Its resonated hugely with audiences, and I expect with the older voting members of the Academy, partly due to its old-school Hollywood feel, but also because of its genial tone. As I stated up the thread, it's a lame, cloying film, but it's difficult to hate on something so good-natured, especially when it's just copped a Black, Muslim actor another high-profile award.

Suffice to say, I think diversity and wokeness is now the core narrative in mainstream film and entertainment, and you are probably best off avoiding the media trail in the run up towards an awards ceremony if you don't want to engage with that. It is however, amusing seeing so many publications wanking on about how the Oscars are irrelevant and out of touch with the wider world for weeks on end, a failed institution, a waste of time, and then bathing them in endless coverage, zipping between righteous anger or flawless worship, depending on the result.

[Funcrusher]

Green Book seemed like perfectly fine middlebrow nonsense. The percentage of people outraged by it winning who have actually seen the movie has to be <5%.

If you want to talk about a patronizing take on race relations, I'm much more offended by the universe collectively pretending that Black Panther was a great movie simply because it was the first Marvel movie to take place in comic book Africa. Why not reward black filmmakers actually making excellent movies, like If Beale Street Could Talk which was snubbed despite being better than any of the Best Picture nominees this year.

On reflection I am a bit surprised 'If Beale Street Could Talk' didn't get more nominations - I think I had assumed it came out too late to count for 2018 nominations, but clearly not. Not seen it yet, haven't seen any great notices for it and it looks a bit underwhelming but probably still more substantial choice than 'Green Book'.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I dunno if wokeness is the main factor. A lot of the awards are very predictable. They're usually good films and good actors but there's nothing to take away from it, you've already heard of these films and actors.

[Funcrusher]

I dunno if wokeness is the main factor. A lot of the awards are very predictable. They're usually good films and good actors but there's nothing to take away from it, you've already heard of these films and actors.

It's the Hollywood industry awards, so it's always focussed on major US studios output and films that give the industry a perceived dash of class while also performing in terms of ticket sales.

[Z]

Spike Lee somehow managed to do that with BlacKKKlansman as well. No wonder he was so upset about Green Book winning, beaten at his own game.

I liked it but spike Lee was always gonna storm out no matter what won, he's that kind of guy. In a way the best possible result for his brand was Green Wing winning.

[Funcrusher]

"Every time somebody's driving somebody I lose."

[Monsieur Verdoux]

The thing is, Green Book is basically a film that exists to serve the purpose of reminding us that racism is bad, and that we should all try and get along. Its resonated hugely with audiences, and I expect with the older voting members of the Academy, partly due to its old-school Hollywood feel, but also because of its genial tone. As I stated up the thread, it's a lame, cloying film, but it's difficult to hate on something so good-natured, especially when it's just copped a Black, Muslim actor another high-profile award.

I think this is exactly it, it simply appealed to the socially liberal boomers who make up the main voting bloc of the academy, it's not a kowtowing to or a repudiation of 'woke culture', they're just voting for the same stuff they always vote for, whether it be Driving Miss Daisy, Crash etc. I think many people vastly overestimate the influence of social media. Not everybody is brain poisoned by online, some things just roll on as usual and the 'social media backlash' is overblown and yesterday's news almost straight away. Lots of people just seem to have a pathological need to get stuck in to the culture war shit flinging, whether by picking a side or pretending to be above it by obsessively dredging it all to up to do some performative tutting at it even when it's not really relevant or interesting

[Schnapple]

Not everybody is brain poisoned by online

Too late for us lot tbf, but worth bearing in mind.

[Twed]

Whaa

Spike Lee is great, his cynicism is essential for keeping fluff in check. Without the Spike Lees all activism would be what Will and Grace is to gay rights.

Also this: https://twitter.com/mxr_ly_/status/1099997938204508161

[Mister Six]

I think Moonlight is a bit overrated and underlyingly not that far from standard Oscar fodder, but it it is a better film than La La land which is very ho hum at best (I think First Man is actually a fairly impressive film).

Not seen First Man, but the camerawork, choreography and cinematography on La La Land was astounding.

[Mr. Internet]

Normally, I'm not interested in Oscar night, but I'm so glad Olivia Colman won. Almost everything she does is ridiculously well-performed and realised, and it feels like she's been a part of everything I've watched growing up. Good for her!

[Funcrusher]

BBC on the internet's response to Green Book winning Best Picture.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-47355634

[greenman]

I do think you could argue theres been moves towards focusing on politics in cinema by way of blander, safer but more profitable/commercial releases, the Starwars sequels, the ghostbusters remake, etc all got plenty of attention along those lines dispite lacking much substance. I could see Green Book being rather bound up to that kind of regression, the idea that tokenism alone is enough.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

I think that's due to the increasingly decadent state of late capitalism rather than any specific cultural trend. There are wider reasons as to why art is increasingly production line, meaningless and in thrall to trends that can't simply be boiled down to notion that twitter has any real influence over the culture. 'Tokenism alone is enough' has arguably been the Hollywood model since at least the 1980s

[greenman]

I think that's due to the increasingly decadent state of late capitalism rather than any specific cultural trend. There are wider reasons as to why art is increasingly production line, meaningless and in thrall to trends that can't simply be boiled down to notion that twitter has any real influence over the culture. 'Tokenism alone is enough' has arguably been the Hollywood model since at least the 1980s

Even within that though there does seem to have been a shift in the last 2-3 years arguably inline with ever stronger focus on tokenism in politics as a reaction to the status quo being threatened. I mean no they weren't giving out Oscars to stuff like Under the Skin or Calvary but not so long ago Moonlight, Birdman and 12 years a Slave were winning Best Picture and you didn't have the same focus on using politics to try and hype pretty bog standard blockbusters.

I think this result was more the Academy trying to go with recent trends but being a little out of touch with what would go down best, as said Spike Lee was basically selling the same kind of thing.

[Funcrusher]

In what universe do online conversations such as Twitter not have a massive influence on culture? #oscarssowhite has been a huge thing and it's clear that the Academy is responding to it in terms of nominations and prizes. Hence why Kevin Hart was selected to present, before he had to step down because of Twitter.

Green Book is nothing new - it's Driving Miss Daisy with a role swap. The reaction to it is new.

The simplistic and reductive knee jerk online outrage fest culture is driving tokenism rather than supporting and encouraging better films.

[Keebleman]

Another interesting link (well, interesting to trivia nerds like me) between Green Book and Driving Miss Daisy is that both won Best Picture without their directors even being nominated.  I think Argo was another.  Can't think of any more.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

The simplistic and reductive knee jerk online outrage fest culture is driving tokenism rather than supporting and encouraging better films.

I'm sorry but we're simply yet to see this, Hollywood has been making and awarding the same kind of shit since about 1981. The only difference now is in the marketing

[Monsieur Verdoux]

The thing is about twitter is that because most of what goes on there is performative, any manifestation of a response to it in the culture is usually performative as well. I don't think that twitter conversations have any real material impact on things, like I don't think it affects which films get greenlit. It may well change the way that these films are discussed in certain online press outlets, but it's a drop in the ocean compared to the larger forces at work here. The point is that Hollywood is out of touch, not that they're too plugged in

Can anyone come up with one film from the last 3 years that was made purely because of 'woke culture' and absolutely wouldn't have been made at an earlier date? I mean, we even had female led superhero films in the mid-2000s for christ's sake, nothing has changed except the marketing

[Funcrusher]

Can anyone come up with one film from the last 3 years that was made purely because of 'woke culture'

No, but then that isn't the subject of this thread, Oscar nominations and winners are, and there's a clear effort to get more black people, whoever they may be. There will definitely be at least one female director nommed next year because of the hoo hah this year.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

Okay, can anyone name a single Oscar win that can be purely attributed to 'woke culture'?

[Funcrusher]

Okay, can anyone name a single Oscar win that can be purely attributed to 'woke culture'?

Moonlight

[Monsieur Verdoux]

How do we know that was the result of 'woke culture' as opposed to the academy's usual liberal boomer tastes or even, god forbid, merit

[Cuellar]

Okay, can anyone name a single Oscar win that can be purely attributed to 'woke culture'?

In the Heat of the Night