Movie Ignorance
So the Oscar nominations were announced today. The Best Picture category is comprised of 5 movies: one I’ve never heard of (The Reader), one I’ve only heard of because I listen to Fresh Air on NPR on the drive home from work each day (Slumdog Millionaire), and all 5 are movies I have never seen and have no real interest in seeing. Maybe… maybe… I’ll sit through Frost/Nixon and/or The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at some point in my life, but I have no strong motivation to do so.
Actually, when you look at the top 6 categories (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress), I’ve only seen one of the performances nominated (Heath Ledger for Best Supporting Actor as The Joker in The Dark Night). What’s more, there’s only one other film nominated in any of those categories (The Wrestler, for which Mickey Rourke gets a Best Actor nod and Marisa Tomei a Best Supporting Actress) that I have any interest in seeing at all.
Am I just a Philistine? Or just not the target audience for the Academy?
Actually, when you look at the top 6 categories (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress), I’ve only seen one of the performances nominated (Heath Ledger for Best Supporting Actor as The Joker in The Dark Night). What’s more, there’s only one other film nominated in any of those categories (The Wrestler, for which Mickey Rourke gets a Best Actor nod and Marisa Tomei a Best Supporting Actress) that I have any interest in seeing at all.
Am I just a Philistine? Or just not the target audience for the Academy?