At this moment, the roughly 6,128 member of the Academy Of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences are filling out their Oscar ballots. They have to turn them in tomorrow, and the official nominations will be revealed on Thursday the 15th. However, every year there always seems to be some controversies during the voting process, and this year is no exception. Here are some controversies that could affect what officially gets nominated. Every year theres always some controversy involving politics, religion, or social issues. Last year it was with The Wolf Of Wall Street, and the year before it was with Zero Dark Thirty. This year, the target seems to be with American Sniper, a biopic of the most lethal military sniper in U.S. history, Chris Kyle. According to the Los Angeles Times, several Oscar voters are refusing to nominate American Sniper on their ballots because of director Clint Eastwoods conservative political beliefs. These voters in particular are still disgusted at Eastwood by his bizarre stunts at the 2012 Republican National Convention, where he addressed an empty chair pretending President Obama was sitting in it. One such voter described that action as disgusting and unforgivable, and as a result, these voters claim they cant take the film seriously, even though critics have mostly been giving the film high praise, both for Eastwoods direction and Bradley Coopers performance. Plus, it doesnt help that Jesse Ventura was able to successfully sue Chris Kyles estate on the grounds that Kyle defamed him in his autobiography. However, this kind of film definitely has its fans within the Academy. It hasnt gotten a Best Picture nomination from any other award shows, but even if it does get one here, it wont win because the momentum for other films like Boyhood is way too strong. Then, with historical films, theres often controversies over how accurate the films are. Three contenders: Selma, Foxcatcher and The Imitation Game are facing criticisms of historical inaccuracies. Selma has come under fire by some historians who claim its portrayal of President Lyndon B. Johnson is inaccurate, though the films director Ava DuVernay has stood her ground. Some historians have also accused The Imitation Game of depicting its subject, Alan Turing, as a socially awkward and unfriendly man, claiming he was in fact the opposite (the parts involving his genius and his struggles with being gay during the time period of the film are said to be accurate, though). Then theres Foxcatcher, which is the most surprising. The real-life subject of the film, Mark Schultz (who is played by Channing Tatum), had been praising the movie for several months, only to shockingly reverse position around Christmas, where he violently blasted the film on social media, particularly for the way the film depicts his relationship with Steve Carells character, John Du Pont. Some suspected his accounts were hacked and it was an imposter making those remarks, but that does not seem to be the case. How this will affect these films is unknown, because while some Oscar voters do take these things into consideration, others do not, and films with large historical inaccuracies like Braveheart have walked away with honors in the past. Then theres a new controversy about Whiplash and its screenplay. The Writers Guild of America has deemed Whiplashs screenplay to be original, and usually the Academy follows the WGAs guidelines. However, the Academy also has its own rules. In Whiplashs case, it was first made as a short film, and then turned into a feature film. The Academys rules stipulate that if a feature film is inspired by a short film, its an adaptation, and therefore its screenplay would have to be nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay. This has frustrated some Oscar voters who were trying to find it in the Best Original Screenplay category on their ballots, where many of them feel it should be nominated, and now the question is will Whiplash get a screenplay nomination at all as a result. At this point, I think I have a fairly good sense at what most of the Oscar nominees will be, but when controversies like these arise, as they always tend to do, some surprises may be in store. We shall see come January 15. Im curious as to what all of you think of this. Let me know.
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 17:54:56 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015