Oscars Overview 2016

Black Oscars Matter

Where the Polynesians got their inspiration for Easter Island 

I titled last year's post "It's a Nice Day for a White Oscar".  There was so much publicity about last year's nominations being the "whitest since 1998", that we naturally assumed there would be some swing away from this embarrassment.  Yet, here we are with an all-white slate.  Even Straight Outta Compton (which my wife and I, hardly fans of the genre of music covered, enjoyed immensely) was only nominated for screenplay, written by...no need to wait for it...two white people.

This led to two questions:

• How are nominations even determined?
• How are they getting away with being "So White"?

The Nomination Process

I had never considered this before.  Largely because I'm not in the business, but mostly because...daily life.  We have 3 kids (one of each) and the lectures I give them don't apply to me. This complete lack of knowledge on the nominating process DOES, however, represent a very real blowback point when one of the 3 realizes I don't practice what I preach.  Since 2 of the 3 of them are certain to see this post, let me follow Thompson Theorem #4(a): 

"Holistic understanding will not occur without detailed knowledge of the underlying components and an uninterrupted supply of single malt."

This is how the nominations are determined (simpli-fied, predictably, since I'm a simple-ton):

1. Pricewaterhouse Coopers, without the use of any mayonnaise jars, makes a list of eligible movies:
1. A movie's Producer or Distributor submits an application including a list of credits.  The film must be:
1. at least 40 minutes in length
2. publicly screened (and not for free) in Los Angeles County for 7 straight days in 2015
3. premiered at a movie theater, not on DVD, Television, Smellivision, or the Internets (sorry, Mad Jack, Beyond Thunderbone)
2. The ballots are distributed to Academy Members.

Just kidding.  He's not in the Academy....he let his membership lapse.

    3. Members chose their top 5 in each category, in preference order.

The tabulation that occurs after that would make Rube Goldberg blush.  It's based on Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), a preferential voting system that is used to elect the President of Ireland, the lower house of Parliament in Australia and the city council of Berkeley, California.**

**-Draw your own chemicals-in-use conclusions.

So is the system bleaching the nominations?  Could be.  Take a look at this demographic of voters:

No, I swear that's not a profile of Trump/Cruz supporters (though they are likely to think the "whiteness" is the only good thing coming out of Hollywood these days).  These people are old white men.  But this is not the telling graphic...this is:

The punchline, it turns out, is that the racism (overt or otherwise) occurs in drama schools and casting rooms.  If they get the roles, minorities are nominated and win more often than whites:

• all minority actors land 15% of top roles, 15% of nominations and 17% of wins
• black actors convert 9% of top roles into 10% of best-actor nominations and win 15% of the time 

Alright, that's enough.  I watched Crash.  I know it's upsetting to hear a long tirade about racism, so I'll let Chris Rock handle the rest of the heavy lifting.  Some general thoughts before I get into the categories:

• Meryl Streep Earns Her .... Nothing!
• She probably wasn't even going, but now that all of the non-Chris-Rock-black-people are boycotting, there are extra seats available (I said I'd stop, didn't I?)  She actually had a legitimate role last year (no, not Ricky and the Flash -- Rick Springfield.  'Nuff said, right?) as Emmeline Pankhurst in Suffragette, a true story about the women's rights movement in the U.K.  Even had Carey Mulligan and Helena Bonham Carter in it. She'll be back next year, though, for her docu-drama on the rampant spread of disease in the porn industry, Streep Throat.  

• The Death, Rebirth, and Death...er, Re-Death?...of Movie Theaters
• My lovely wife predicted two years ago that we would be able to do our annual quest to see the nominated movies online in January and February.  NONSENSE, screamed the cinephile technology geek!  I attended the funeral of the traditional theater house when I saw an X-rated movie at the Brunswick Theater in Trenton in 1979.
  
   (Before you heap your derision on me, imagine MY trauma -- those screens are 70 feet wide.  I have only in the last few years recovered my self-esteem.)  The modern theater has reclining seats; entertaining employees; drinks; reserved reclining entertaining sleep-inducing seats; and so much more!  But this year's effort (81.4% of major noms viewed...our best year since 2007!) included 13 movies streamed at home.  The major difference this year seemed to be VUDU (peer-to-peer streaming service acquired by Walmart in 2010).  They are making a concerted effort to get top movies first.  This is a little upsetting to me because, A) Walmart; but more importantly I prefer the hassle of the movie theater visit -- at least for the top 10 (or so) pictures.  The children still exist and, oh boy do they want.  And there is no end to the siren song of the glowing rectangle, so the endless "pause it...I just have to respond to this one text" really takes the flow out of a movie.  Oh, and VUDU's app (or strategy) sucks -- Tivo shows a movie as "available" on VUDU, even if it's a pre-order offer that won't kick in until weeks after the Oscar show.  You can't find this out until after you log all the way into the service.  Walmart.

Now, after the jump, the awards (our choices, not our predictions, in bold...and, 'no', 'not' is not a prediction just because I bolded it.  Sheesh):  click here