...and the Oscar goes to

In my prior blog (scroll down to see it if you haven't read it), I gave my ever so brief reprise of this season's Academy Awards.

Perhaps one of the greatest controversies is which movie won "best picture."  As you know, Green Book won. Various critics have suggested that it was a "feel good movie" and that it "got race wrong." That it was a new iteration of Driving Miss Daisy, but this time the white person in the front and the black man in the back.

Here's the issue--the Academy Awards purport to be about the best. The best in each category across the entire spectrum of movie making.  But, frequently that is NOT the way the voting works. Obviously, preference is a personal thing. What I like, you may not. And the Academy is made up of people voting. So, you get the most popular, not necessarily the best.

Remember the list of which movie won in the previous blog? Here are the answers.  The winner is in bold italics.

• The Ten Commandments             Around the World in 80 Days

• Ordinary People                        Raging Bull

• L.A. Confidential                        Titanic

• The King's Speech                     The Social Network

• Chicago                                      The Pianist

• Zero Dark Thirty                          Argo

• Goodfellas                                  Dances with Wolves

• Brokeback Mountain                    Crash

• How Green was my Valley          Citizen Kane

The last one is, of course, indicative of popularity winning out over quality. When various movie buffs are surveyed and asked--what is the best movie of all time?  Citizen Kane frequently tops that list. Yet, it is edgy, enigmatic, pure genius, and sometimes depressing. So feel good wins over quality.