Every best picture nominee won at least one Oscar at last night’s award show. With eight films nominated, that’s a lot of love to spread around. Were this year’s Oscars the little-league version of an award show, where everyone gets a prize just for showing up?
The Academy Awards are fun, sure, but they’ve never been an accurate representation of what actually occurred in film in a given year. There’s so much beautiful minutia that is left without any hardware at all.
Growing up, one of the great thrills of Oscar watching came during moments when lowly sitcom stars and comedians received awards attention. It felt like a validation of the things I watched with my friends, an acknowledgement that these performers – whether it was Bill Murray, or former “Fresh Prince” Will Smith – were just as worthy, and capable of the sorts of pathos, as traditional dramatic actors. More
