The Academy of Dramas Only

Last year that was some rightful outrage over the Oscar nominations snubbing Mia Goth for her performance in Pearl. There is often talk in film circles about why on earth musicals and comedies get shoved together and why neither genre seems to get the proper recognition. The reality is that in the last decade or so the academy has stopped acknowledging these genres as valid or skillful. It's really embarrassing for them because I could (and am going to) easily argue that these are in fact some of the MOST skillful genres and they require a lot more from a cast and crew than the movies that tend to be highlighted. Now we’ve already talked about what could actually be considered Oscar bait, now let's discuss why the academy thinks that if a movie is enjoyable it isn't Oscar worthy.

Let’s start with horror films. Now some of the best performances of all time have been given in horror films. Mia Goth is the newest prominent actress in the genre. And her performance in Pearl is some of the most incredible acting I’ve seen from anyone in any genre. Last year Jamie Lee Curtis got an Oscar that she didn’t actually deserve for last year but because she earned it long ago, starring in horror movies. So why exactly doesn’t the academy acknowledge horror films? Well my current theory is that the current makeup of the academy is overwhelmingly pretentious and they WANT to be seen that way. They deem horror as a genre not high brow enough to win Oscars. We can’t possibly award films that contain blood. It's really ironic honestly because good horror movies challenge our ideas, our feelings and our reality about it is that we’re afraid of. They are just as introspective as any drama which is what art is supposed to be. But blood = no awards.

Comedies have also been overlooked lately, romantic comedies specifically. Now a part of it is that comedies, especially romantic comedies are aimed toward women. Both in their content and their marketing. The fact that the academy has a sexist streak is not new or surprising, just super disappointing as we head into 2024. The other part of it is that comedies are fun! People laugh and apparently that shouldn’t happen in super important filmmaking. To this I say it is so much easier for actors to play drama. It's like the default setting for an actor. If you are an actor you are a dramatic actor that's just how it is. However, very few people have the ability to be comedic actors. To have good delivery and comedic timing is 100X harder than anything drama makes you do. So comedies absolutely take more skill as both an actor and a director then dramas do. To not reward that is next level pretentious.

And of course musicals have been getting overlooked by the academy as well. This was not always the case, musicals used to be very prominent at the Oscars. But the only recent musical that got any attention was La La Land…hilarious because as a film it is beautiful but as a musical it's trash garbage. Musicals (done well) are the highest level of achievement a film can have. Singing, acting and dancing are all wildly different talents and if you can assemble a cast of triple threats, and a director that can bring out the best, why in the world are we not constantly rewarding that? The Greatest Showman should have resulted in several nominations as should The Color Purple but we will see.

Overall the problem is sexism and pretension, something that actually seems to be getting worse in the last few years. The academy seems to have lost its grasp on reality and what constitutes actual skill and feats of filmmaking. If it's not a serious, look-how-smart-we-are drama then the academy seems to have no interest in it.