That Pixar's WALL-E got snubbed by the Academy has apparently not come as a surprise to many people, certainly not in the way that The Dark Knight snub did. To my mind, though, it's certainly a bigger crime, because in addition to being a narrative masterpiece, the movie has something a lot more to say than, at the very least, a movie about a man aging backwards, yet another look at a disgraced President, a gay politician, and yet ANOTHER Holocaust/WWII themed movie.
WALL-E may have a love story beating at its heart, but first and foremost it's a film about saving our planet, something which can only begin with a sincere change of attitude. THIS is the kind of blend of craftsmanship AND relevance that the Academy has awarded in the past and should continue to recognize. Movies like Schindler's List and Crash were unapologetically message movies that were bestowed the Best Picture honor, so why not give similar recognition to a movie that is arguably at least as well-made as the former and, from what I've heard almost CERTAINLY better made than the latter? I may well have answered my own question on this very blog by talking about the Weinstein Brother's omnipresent influence with the Academy, but considering that Pixar has scored THREE best animated feature wins and has had every single one of its films released after the category was introduced score a nomination one wonders why they haven't crossed over yet. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon managed to score a Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Film nod years ago, so really, I have to say, what's keeping the Academy from recognizing one of the best made movies of the year, which is arguably the most socially relevant?
There can be good arguments made in favor of passing up WALL-E just as there can be those for its snubbing The Dark Knight as well, though to my mind, in the case of the former, I'll be harder pressed to believe them. After all, the film WAS nominated for Best Original Screenplay, an arguably major award that not even TDK scored for all its eight nominations, and that's usually a very important indicator of how the Academy views the craftsmanship of the film. And to think that WALL-E and TDK were overlooked in favor of The Reader, a film which is now the whipping boy of just about everyone who believes these two films deserved better.
The way I see it, when the era of the Weinsteins is over, Oscar season will become a lot more interesting, because then films will have a better chance of getting in on merit.
2 comments:
agh jim. we continue to disagree over movies.
i thought wall-e was just too pa-cute. yes, i see its appeal, especially for insecure, emotionally vulnerable men who wear their heart on a sleeve (like me), but it was just too intentional and too guy-centric. the romance was reminiscent of adolescent infatuation and just wasnt a mature enough approach for me. anyway, it was still better than shrek3
Hehehe a regular Siskel and Ebert, we are.
Seriously, though, thus far it's only been Speed Racer and this film that we seem to strongly disagree on, at least in recent years. We can't agree on everything, after all.
Still, if I may defend WALL-E,all things considered, I think the nature/depth of their romance was significantly affected/limited by the fact that neither of the romantic leads could speak very much, which, in my opinion anyway, is an indispensable facet for more mature romantic interaction. I mean, they couldn't exactly have done something as cerebral as Before Sunrise/Before Sunset with the two of them.
And the "tree-hugging liberal, save the planet" message, I think, was handled pretty well if a tiny bit simplistically (i.e. planting a few shrubs saves the world). It reminded me a little bit of Mike Judge's "Idiocracy" a movie that never saw theatrical release in that it shows mankind's natural trajectory if we continue to waste and throw things away indiscriminately.
Thanks for the comment, though, as it's been awhile since anyone has put anything up here. I'd began to wonder if anyone even read this thing anymore. I mean, I always appreciate AA's texts regarding my blog posts but I do wish he'd post something here every now and then, even if he doesn't have his own user I.D.
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