A Look At The Historical Impact Of This Year’s Oscars - Awards Outlook
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Awards analysis is provided by Sean from @MathTeacherMovies.
A Look At The Historical Impact Of This Year’s Oscars
It’s 2052 and President Aaron Rodgers just won his fifth term, while suffering from a polio-measles hybrid and Hail Mary-ing a drone at Jimmy Kimmel for the newly declared crime of associating with doctors. At this time, the Dolby Theater is a wasteland that just plays Driving Miss Daisy and Green Book simultaneously on a loop, but it used to be where the Oscars were held. Iit will be interesting to see how this year’s Oscars will be looked at years from now. And what their legacy will be.
As the years go by, some Best Picture winners end up being forgotten, some still spark rage from their win and others are looked back on as absolute classics. There is no doubt that Oppenheimer will be one of the latter. Christopher Nolan’s latest was a front runner since its release and never showed a hint of slowing down while being beloved by so many. In a year with many great movies, this one still stood out and will probably stand the test of time as an upper-tier Best Picture winner.
It will be interesting to see where Nolan’s career goes from here. He was considered one of the greatest directors without an Oscar and so it will be interesting to see if he heads back to his home in sci-fi blockbusters, or if he ends up making another film around an important topic. Let’s see if he does eventually win another award, something that has proven to be difficult to do… just ask Marty.
For the third time in a row, a Martin Scorsese film received a sensational amount of nominations above and below the line, yet went home empty handed. While this might be a difficult statistic to deal with, history is going to look at Scorsese as an all-time legendary filmmaker regardless of the amount of Oscars he holds (one).
Bradley Cooper is someone else who went home empty handed once again and, unlike Marty, he does not have a single Oscar on his mantle. With twelve nominations, it's starting to become a trend that many notice. This is not a situation that earns any pity whatsoever; I would happily trade my mortgage for twelve Oscar nominations, but this does mean that Cooper will eventually get his win. Before then, he will be the front runner of whatever his next race is until he finally secures the statue.
On the complete opposite hand, Emma Stone is now a two-time Oscar winner and, while she did not need to win this year to confirm her as one of the most certifiably bankable movie stars, it doesn’t hurt. The actress has booked several projects that could possibly lead her back on the Oscar stage, get her nominated, or continue to give rise to her household name. This does prove her a legend with an illustrious career in front of her and she will be giving us a great deal of art for many years to come.
It is with hope that Lily Gladstone will continue to have a promising career and eventually receive a win, making history for the Native American People and Oscars or, at the very least, open the door for more talent of other cultures to be recognized. The cynical part of my brain is prepared to be disappointed, but one can still hope.
In 2020, Parasite won Best Picture, showing that international films are here to stay.Many people who would normally run from subtitles are now becoming fans of international cinema and, in the years since, there has been one nomination reserved for Best Picture and Best Director from an international film. This year there were two international film nominations for both of those categories with many prominent wins for international films, including The Zone of Interest, The Boy and the Heron, Anatomy of a Fall, and Godzilla Minus One. These aren't the first international films to ever win Oscars, but the amount of international films winning this year will probably represent a turning point in the Academy becoming more inclusive of this category of films and creating more accolades.
On the other hand, streaming movies lost big at the Oscars. Netflix had the only success of finally getting Wes Anderson an Oscar, even though it was for a short subject. Other than that, Maestro, NYAD, and May December from Netflix and Killers of the Flower Moon and Napoleon from Apple TV+ all went home empty handed. It will be interesting to see how this shifts in whether or not streaming services want to shell up the money for Oscar wins when it doesn’t seem to be successful or a great business plan.
Nothing against the Original Song winner “What Was I Made For?” but there is no doubt that after Gosling performed “I’m Just Ken” at the Oscars that almost all of those who voted for anything else definitely regretted it. This may have exposed a problem with the category that always goes for the ballad over the comedic song and perhaps, after this year, that could change… but probably not.
Jimmy Kimmel seems to keep getting better in the hosting gig, but John Mulaney definitely had a try out with his one bit and seems to want the job, which would be interesting. The ceremony itself was quite the success in both viewers and quality and, while they are not putting up viewership numbers that they have in past decades, this upward trend of likability could lead to more interest. Will the Oscars matter to more of the general public? They seemed to care a bit more this year… not much, but it’s a step in the right direction.