Best Picture Expansion

It was reported today that The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be expanding their Best Picture Oscar candidates from five nominations to ten. No other Oscar categories are to see any change.

This rather radical change in the Oscar system, which seems to be motivated as a means to increase the amount of television viewers during the Academy Awards ceremony.

The decision to increase the Best Picture nominees, not the reason behind of, I greet with mixed feelings. It has become evident in past years that certain film genres, most notably action, science fiction, fantasy, comedy, animation and documentary have been subject to prejudice by the Academy. It is rare for a film of these genres to be recognized with the distinguished Best Picture nomination, let alone victory. The most recent example of this sort of genre “apartheid” includes The Dark Knight, an action/thriller, and WALL-E, an animated film, who were widely believed to have received the Academy’s cold shoulder this past ceremony. The two films however still managed to receive recognition in other areas (eight nominations for Knight and six for WALL-E). The expansion of five nominations to ten opens up the opportunity for a greater diversity within the nominated films’ genres and certainly allows those prejudiced films a chance to win the coveted prize.

Had The Dark Knight and WALL-E been given a chance whose to say the couldn’t have won? Both were critically acclaimed, and The Dark Knight was the most successful movie, financially, of 2008.

The liberation is wonderful but what worries me is that the prestige of the award will be diminished. It is now undoubtedly easier to win a nomination for an award so high in regard that the nomination itself carries with it a high sense of accomplishment and acknowledgement. DVD products for films always shout their nominations on the box cover as if they won the award. And now with such a large amount of candidates it appears that the nomination’s cache is threatened.

Overall I feel as if this decision will see more positive results than negative. Other genres now have a better chance of being acknowledged (not at the expense of others) and the Academy may well indeed see a higher television audience as a result. May the best picture truly win.