The red carpet has been rolled up, the speeches have been given and the golden statues have been distributed. The Oscars are over and so is awards season.
“The Hurt Locker” dominated the Academy Awards with six wins, including Best Picture and Best Director. “The Hurt Locker” winning Best Picture isn’t surprising &mdash small budget films have won before “Locker.” However, the win is important because it ensures the continued appreciation of acting and script writing.
The race was between “Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker.” Had “Avatar” won, it would have honored a film only for its technological advancements and creativity.
“The Hurt Locker” was not a groundbreaking film as there were far better films it was running against for Best Picture, but it paid attention to importance of character and plot development. However, this win proved the Academy, as a whole, still recognizes movies which use all components of a film to make it great: acting, directing, script writing and visual effects.
This also indicates the Academy isn’t ready to recognize science fiction films in general this year. Both “Avatar” and “District 9” were nominated for several awards, including Best Picture, and lost to more traditional films. Though arguably neither deserved Best Picture, there’s no denying “Avatar” at least deserved to contend for the sound awards; both went to “The Hurt Locker.”
Though I didn’t want “Avatar” to win Best Picture, I can’t help but feel part of the reason why “The Hurt Locker” won so many awards Sunday night was because the Academy simply wanted to recognize the same type of film it has for years, instead of branching out.
I can’t help but feel as though “Avatar,” along with other movies in its genre, were snubbed at the Oscars.
“Star Trek,” which received almost unanimous positive reviews from major critics, failed to be nominated for Best Picture. Because “District 9” and “Avatar” received so much support, I don’t think many members of the Academy wanted to vote for three science fiction pictures.
In the past, the genre may have been campy and ridiculous, but this year truly hailed great science fiction films. “Star Trek” was arguably the best live-action movie of 2009, “Avatar” changed the way viewers look at film and “District 9” showed how aliens can be more than just a cool visual effect.
Like science fiction films, animated movies have been snubbed for Best Picture nominations, much less wins, which is why “Up” had no chance of winning.
Sunday night’s show proves that nothing has changed. In the end, the Academy will choose to honor the small-budget, little-known films over the more popular movies, even if it’s only to make a point. “The Dark Knight” wasn’t even nominated last year, even though many considered it the best film of the year before awards season.
Small-budget, little-known films in some cases are the best and deserve to win, and what’s the best is subjective. But it’s obvious that the Academy caters to certain types of films and only every once in a while does a mainstream, big budget spectacle take home the prize.
Kathryn Bigelow made history and became the first woman to win Best Director. I doubt this win means the Academy or Hollywood is going to change. Bigelow simply was the best director there &mdash she made the best of her budget, script, cast and crew &mdash and created a worthy Best Picture contender.
Her win and Lee Daniels’s (“Precious”) nomination for Best Director do show the Academy is moving toward change, but Hollywood still has predominately white, male directors. Many of those directors are talented. James Cameron, Peter Jackson, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas all have created cinematic masterpieces. However, there are few opportunities for anyone, much less minorities, to break into directing.
Like science fiction movies are treated as big blockbusters and animated films are generally seen as a way to entertain children, mainstream directing jobs have traditionally been given to white men.
Despite years of growth, Hollywood has yet to move past the bias that shapes the way the movies it produces are seen. For the Academy to change the way it sees film, Hollywood must first change its point of view.
Hannah Rogers is the entertainment editor for The Reflector. She can be contacted at [email protected].