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The public deserted the Oscars, not vice versa
OK, so the Oscars have been done with for a week, I know, but I came across this VERY interesting essay by Nathaniel R of The Film Experience. He states, rather correctly, I have to say, that the media portrait of the Oscars as being in trouble because they nominate movies no one has ever heard of is off-base.
Key passages:
“The argument is that the Oscars have left the public. This is misleading. The Oscars are still loving that (dramatic) type of film. It’s the public who left dramas and epics behind for superheroes and CG animation. That’s what the public loves now.
Imagine it. A Kramer Vs. Kramer equivalent opens today —a film about a marriage dissolving … it’s just as good and just as zeitgeisty in its picture of contemporary relationships. The acting is just as revelatory. My guess is $90 million tops … Brokeback Mountain numbers …
“(Adjusted for inflation), Kramer Vs. Kramer was massive…$293 million adjusted for inflation. Transformers big. More popular in it’s day than The Bourne Ultimatum is now. Tough to imagine, right? But totally true. You can look it up. Dramas don’t get the public in as quick of a frenzy anymore. But that doesn’t mean dramas shouldn’t be rewarded with Oscars.”
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