Films/DVD Asylum

Re: "cozy arrangement"

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In Reply to: Re: "cozy arrangement" posted by Analog Scott on December 20, 2005 at 00:45:42:

Thanks for your spirited response, and for debunking some of the misconceptions that I think many of us share as members of the movie going public. But since your are, to a degree as you say, an insider. I'd like to ask you another question or two.
Since the Academy is dominated by actors, directors, and producers who are not beholden to any of these other constituencies, why is it that so many films of obvious merit are passed over, and so many other lesser films are heaped with Oscars. Is it just some kind of group think, where everyone is mindful that they should vote for what makes commercial sense for Hollywood itself, since this is the pond they all feed in? Why didn't Hitchcock and Kubrick ever win best picture? Or even best director? Just two examples that come to mind.

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Re: "cozy arrangement" - Analog Scott 23:49:35 12/20/05 (1)
"Since the Academy is dominated by actors, directors, and producers who are not beholden to any of these other constituencies, why is it that so many films of obvious merit are passed over, and so many other lesser films are heaped with Oscars."

That question makes an assumption of merit. Merit is, when all is said and done, very subjective. one person's masterpiece is another person's POS. The problem really lies in the numbers. think about it for a moment. What movie, what performance has been so oustanding as to create a concensus amoung critics, academy memebers, press, avid movie fans as can be found here on this forum and the movie going populus? Above you have a very favorable review by Victor of Million Dollar Baby. I would bet that of the nominees for best picture last year he would have voted for that movie. no doubt you will find someone else on this very forum that will tell you that movie was undeserving. With a few exceptions you will be hard pressed to find any movie or any performance in a given year that would take even 50% of the popular vote amoung critics, academy members, fans in general or fans on this forum or others like it. what does that mean? for every Oscar there is likely more than half the interested population that disagrees with it. Inevitably a lot of people will complain no matter who wins. and when there is such a concensus very few complain. we don't pay much attention to those instances we just accept them as obvious.

" Is it just some kind of group think, where everyone is mindful that they should vote for what makes commercial sense for Hollywood itself, since this is the pond they all feed in?"

You will be hard pressed to get any kind of "group think" amoung film makers on any subject. There are exceptions and there are instances of politics and "group think" but IMO and IME they are the exceptions rather than the rule.

" Why didn't Hitchcock and Kubrick ever win best picture?"

Mostly because only one wins each year. The odds are against any individual.

"Or even best director? Just two examples that come to mind."
Good examples. I don't think the reasons were conspiratorial but i think from time to time enough memebers of the academy can get sucked into good PR to make a difference. I rememebr applauding Cuba Gooding Jr at the time. WTF was I thinking! That was some good PR. Some things seem quite good at the time but after further thought.... I remember back in the day thinking ET was ripped off for best picture. Boy was I wrong. If I can be so wrong in a given moment why can't any member of the academy? And then there are times when they are surprisingly right, like last year.
- Re: "cozy arrangement" - halfnote 19:15:56 12/21/05 (0)
  Thanks for sharing your informative views. It's hard for an outside observer, such as myself, to let go of the view that "the word goes out" from somewhere on how one should vote (if one know's what's good for one!) on oscar night. But your logic is undeniable.
  The sad thing, and perhaps the reason so many are disposed to be so cynical about Hollywood and the Oscars, is that so little of genuine merit comes out of tinsel town's celluloid sausage maker that, most years, the oscars are a travesty. But then, you put your finger on it in your earlier post: a producer's job is to make a profit. And while you're point about merit is undeniable, let's not confuse Dr. Dre with Mozart, or Sidney Sheldon with Shakespeare, or "Chicago", "Gladiator", "Braveheart", "The Sting" and other trifles to flims like "Psycho", "2001", "Citizen Kane", "Amacord", "Clockwork Orange" and, well, you know what I mean.

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