Oscar 2006: The New and Politically Improved Academy
Adam Cohen in The New York Times: "It is not just this year’s best picture nominees that break from the Oscars’ traditional tepid politics. The most lavishly honored nominee is George Clooney, perhaps Hollywood’s most outspoken liberal. He has been nominated as director and co-writer of Good Night, and Good Luck, the story of the CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow taking on Joseph McCarthy, and is up for best supporting actor for Syriana, a cynical look at oil and politics in the Middle East. The Constant Gardener, a cynical look at pharmaceutical companies in Africa, picked up four nominations.
"This year’s nominations may simply reflect the voters’ honest assessment of movie quality — though it is striking, by historical voting patterns, that the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, a well-reviewed blockbuster, did not get a best picture nod. Or it could mean that the voters were merely in a contemplative mood, which would not be surprising, given the state of the world. But it seems most likely that many of those casting ballots were influenced by the political messages of the movies — and that they may have wanted to send a message of their own."
Now, a few quibbles: Edmund Goulding’s lavish Grand Hotel may have been totally detached from the Great Depression of the early 1930s, but that heavy (and heavy-handed) melodrama is anything but "light escapist fare," as Cohen calls it in his article.
Also, it’s true that the vapid An American in Paris and The Greatest Show on Earth did win Best Picture Oscars during the difficult Communist witch-hunting period of the early 1950s, but so did Robert Rossen’s 1949 politically charged drama All the King’s Men, which depicts the misdeeds of a power-hungry demagogue politician.
And finally, I don’t agree with Cohen’s view that the highly political crop of nominees for this year’s Oscars may signal a shift to a more politically engaged Academy. Though I do hope he’s right and I’m wrong.
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