Yeah good for the makers of Up, Crouching Tiger and Toy Story 3.
Cause really, who cares about the makers of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs or Ponyo, Shadow of the Vampire or Tangled? They apparently have no say in this one.
And really who cares about the other nominees in the Best Animated/Foreign category who are only there to fill out berths on what is already a foregone conclusion?
Even if the actual animated nominee I want to win was in the Best Picture category I’d still be upset. If HTTYD, which I think works better as a total package than Toy Story 3 which functions best at an emotional level but doesn’t quite push anything forward visually or aurally in the way that Tangled or HTTYD have, were double pegged I’d be just as upset.
If we’re going to start doing this double pegging I move that we start building genre specific categories so everyone has a chance to get double pegged. Hey, music awards shows got one thing right when they started doing that. (I know animation is a medium and not a genre but the Academy apparently doesn’t)
And those two aren’t mutually exclusive. There are three leads in that film and they all support each other pretty equally. The nature of both the Supporting and Lead Acting categories have always been pretty fluid. Look at Hopkins’ Lecter in Silence of the Lambs. He really had enough screen time to be called a supporting character, but because his performance was so powerful he got nominated for Lead Actor. There’s also the numerous nominations for actors and actresses who got nominated for Supporting for what could barely be called cameo appearances. I’m only citing these examples to point out the nature of those categories before you go and Google some nomination rules and start citing them back.
As for exceptional examples in the category what I’m saying is that Toy Story 3 is a Best Picture candidate that just happens to be animated but it isn’t necessarily the Best Animated Feature. Technique and artistry as well as total package should be factored into the category until Oscar wises up and creates separate categories so individual aspects of these types of films can be honored. I’ll probably have to concede on Crouching Tiger in this section of the argument, even though I don’t agree with it and I still think it’s horribly wrong, as it functions as a total package in both categories.
I still can’t believe no one finds this the least bit unfair to the films that were left out. For one thing Tangled deserved a nom much more than Disney’s last entry. Don’t get me wrong, I love PATF but it was no Ponyo, it wasn’t even a Cloudy. It seemed more like a PR move to re-ignite interest than a genuine nod for the film. Tangled is one of the top 4 best animated films that was released last year. And it was completely shut out of the Best Animated race because of TS3’s double peg. Much like Ponyo and Cloudy got shut out of the race because of Up’s double peg. I don’t see why this should stand just because we love the movies that got the pegging.
Even the Emmys know how to do it correctly. In recent years shows like Family Guy have gotten Best Comedy Under an Hour nods but not Best Animated nods because while the show is animated, and according to that Academy an exceptional example of the medium, it didn’t have the total package to be nominated for Best Animated Show Under An Hour. Not compared to the Simpsons, a currently weaker program but with stronger technique and artistry, South Park, a much stronger program with lower visual sense but excels in its medium due to its expedited process and being able to do so much with seemingly so little unseen pretty much anywhere else. Family Guy works better as a comedy than an animated piece. And that was apparent to not only the producers of the program but the Academy of Television. So why can’t we expect the same from the folks at AMPAS.
Sorry for this long rambling post. And what seems to be a huge uphill battle. There is no such thing as fairness or justice in Hollywood and especially award shows. I already know that. There really is no right way to do things that wouldn’t bloat telecasts to the 12 hour mark.
I suppose we should all agree to disagree and hope that it’s a good ceremony. Hope that Franco and Hathaway actually put on a decent show. That they get a kickin’ music director (Too bad it won’t be Giacchino, I really loved him last time he did it), that none of the presentations will be cringe-worthy, that the music numbers are actually worth watching and that there’s at least one crazy acceptance speech. Because we’re really not going to move forward any other way. As we are arguing Academy semantics and not actual cinematic justice, because it truly doesn’t exist. It’s like the business card scene in American Psycho up in here.
I can’t believe Bryce prefers the score of The Social Network to mine.
I mean look at Toy Story 3, with that subtle off-kilter humor, its tasteful sadness. My God, it even has some Easter eggs!
Had to leave you on a ridiculous note there. It’s getting heated up in this mug…