Winning a total of six Oscars during Sunday’s Academy Awards ceremony, Dune could be seen as the night’s big winner. With only CODA and The Eyes of Tammy Faye taking home more than one award, three and two respectively, Denis Villeneuve’s latest dominated the night by earning awards for Best Cinematography, Visual Effects, Production Design, Editing, Original Score, and Sound. At the same time, Dune’s successes have highlighted a conundrum that has seemingly baffled the Academy for decades: how to deal with blockbusters.
In 2009, the Academy announced that it would expand the Best Picture category from five to ten nominees. Since then, there have been some slight tweaks leading to eight or nine nominees in a given year, yet overall this expansion was a wonderful idea. By doubling the number of nominees, the list could more accurately represent each year in film, diversifying the field of creators and highlighting genres that were typically ignored. This allowed such films as Black Panther, Inception, Joker, Dune and many others to make the cut.
In theory, this was a long-overdue and exciting way to celebrate more than the usual fare of low-budget "serious" films each year and begin to bridge the gap between what was Oscar-worthy and what was popular. However, looking back over this short history of the Academy Awards since that change shows that, while different types of films are being nominated, the same types are ultimately taking home the coveted Best Picture statue.
Looking at budgets alone, the Academy clearly has a distinction between what type of film should win Best Picture and what should win the more technical awards. Since the change to expand the list of nominees, not a single Best Picture winner has had a budget of more than $50 million, with the median budget coming in at $15 million. Meanwhile, other than a few outliers, winners for Visual Effects and Sound are considerably higher than $50 million, with median budgets of $165 million and $100 million respectively.
Incredibly, since the expanded Best Picture nomination list was introduced, there has not been a year where the Best Picture winner also won Best Visual Effects. The last time that happened was in 2003 when The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King won all of its 11 nominations. The only other film from the 21st century to win both Best Picture and Visual Effects was Gladiator in 2000.
Looking at the Best Sound category shows a similar pattern, with only 2009’s The Hurt Locker winning the Best Picture and Best Sound categories since the expanded Best Picture list was introduced. Before that, Chicago and Slumdog Millionaire joined Gladiator and Return of the King as the only films of this millennium to be celebrated for both their technical and cinematic accomplishments.
And even with the implicit understanding that film is a visual and auditory medium, the Academy still cannot seem to get past the concept of the blockbuster as anything other than loud sounds and CGI, as though its mastery of the technical aspects of filmmaking immediately undermines its artistic endeavors. Even looking at arguably the most celebrated of technical Oscars, Best Cinematography, this award rarely goes to the Best Picture, happening only once in this period when Emmanuel Lubezki won for 2014’s low-budget Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).
Since there is no explanation for why a film wins an Oscar, it’s impossible to know what is causing this discrepancy. Whether it be continuing snobbishness surrounding high and low art, the Academy's inability to see beyond one accomplishment to find another or a different reason entirely, this trend will likely never be explained. And while Dune should certainly be celebrated for being the best-looking, best-sounding movie of the year, there will hopefully come a day when blockbusters can also be celebrated for more.
Source: Trendz OH
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