It’s that time of year again! Despite living in a world dominated by Netflix streaming of TV shows from years past and Hulu recaps of the week’s greatest hits, there is one form of entertainment that continues to enchant — movies.
Every year, the Oscars are held to honor the year’s greatest movies and award the best films. Academy Awards are given for numerous categories, including the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Film Editing, and Best Original Song.
Films from the year are nominated for the Awards, and the Academy decides which picture will win a famed Oscar. This year’s nominations for Best Picture were interesting, compelling films, and included: American Sniper, Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Boyhood, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, Selma, The Theory of Everything, and Whiplash.
These films have garnered much popularity and praise in the past few months. One film in particular, American Sniper, has received much adulation. Nazareth senior Austin Brown is one of the many fans of the film, and stated, “I liked [American Sniper] because it had great action scenes and combined those really intense scenes with ones that really gave the viewer a sense of what Chris was feeling and what a sacrifice he and his family had to make. I definitely think it deserves a nomination because beyond the the movie being wonderfully made, the film had a great message: All soldiers deserve recognition not only for the fighting they do but the sacrifice they go through mentally and physically as well as the sacrifices their families make.”
Senior Olivia Pach had similar praise for the nominee Boyhood, stating that “The movie had a good message and is overall a film worthy of an Oscar because of its plot and unique concept.”
Despite the strength of these films, however, the most notable aspect of this year’s Awards were the things that were missing. For example, there was one glaring fact about this year’s nominations — all twenty nominees in the acting categories were white. In sharp contrast to last year’s three black acting nominees, none of the actors from this year’s Best Picture nominee “Selma” nor similar films have been acknowledged for their work.
The lack of diversity in these areas is a cause for concern. Senior Elena Sofia, for example, stated, “Since the United States is so diverse today, I think it is important that contemporary actors reflect the many ethnic backgrounds relevant today.”
Similarly, women were highly underrepresented in this year’s Awards. Out of the eight nominees for Best Picture, none of the films contained storylines focused on women. Taking it a step further, in many of the categories, including Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Cinematography, not a single woman was nominated. Of the women shut out, some names are immensely popular and stand out in particular: Gillian Flynn for her writing of Gone Girl; Ava Duvernay for the directing of Selma; Angelina Jolie for the directing of Unbroken.
Nazareth sophomore Kelsey Cho feels as though the root of the problem is the lack of women that go into these fields. When questioned about lack of women nominees, she stated, “I think that there definitely aren’t enough of them! When I think of directors, I think of people like Steven Spielberg or George Lucas. No females come to mind. So I think women should be more involved in directing films as well as acting.”
Overall, this year’s Oscars honored a variety of commendable, outstanding films but seemed to be lacking a vital component of today’s entertainment industry.