The pressure for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to nominate « Black Panther » for a Best Picture Oscar has gotten that much greater in light of the film’s Golden Globe nomination for Outstanding Drama announced on Thursday.
The pressure for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to nominate « Black Panther » for a Best Picture Oscar has gotten that much greater in light of the film’s Golden Globe nomination for Outstanding Drama announced on Thursday.
Even though Marvel’s « Black Panther » is a good-not-great film (see my overwhelmingly positive review here), since being released last February, the campaign to propel it to Oscar-worthy status has been entirely political; proponents say the film’s novel predominantly black cast is reason enough for a gold statue.
The Academy, fearing that the movie would not have enough votes to make the Best Picture cut, went as far as to propose a condescending » Best Popular Film » category as an obvious attempt to add the phrase « Oscar Winner » to every piece of « Black Panther » promotional material for generations to come. When the backlash became too hot, the Academy made the wise decision to scrap the category entirely.
The move to propel more commercial films into the Best Picture category has been ongoing for nearly a decade now, starting with the apparent snub of « The Dark Knight » in 2009.
