The Oscars

[Not Afraid]

Yes, but film (and art) is about subject matter and very often the subject matter is a reflection of contemporary viewpoints and provides social commentary. There is really no separation between films as social commentary and awarding

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

Yes, but film (and art) is about subject matter and very often the subject matter is a reflection of contemporary viewpoints and provides social commentary. There is really no separation between films as social commentary and awarding

No disagreement here, but subject matter is definitely a secondary consideration. Otherwise, all nominees and winners would always be political statements. Lord knows there are no shortage of short films with political messages, but 3 out of the 5 nominees were quite apolitical (though one was religious commentary which I suppose is a sub/sister category of politics). So it bugs me when politics is given more weight than I feel it deserves. I prefer it when things are weighted more towards the artistic merit end of the spectrum. I'd never expect, or want, politics to be cut out of the process, just not as a defining force.

Heck, Ari Sandel said it best in his prepared speech. The short format Oscars are all about struggling film makers trying to get noticed...and I thought that the other nominations represented the work of better film makers than he.

[Not Afraid]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

No disagreement here, but subject matter is definitely a secondary consideration. Otherwise, all nominees and winners would always be political statements. Lord knows there are no shortage of short films with political messages, but 3 out of the 5 nominees were quite apolitical (though one was religious commentary which I suppose is a sub/sister category of politics). So it bugs me when politics is given more weight than I feel it deserves. I prefer it when things are weighted more towards the artistic merit end of the spectrum. I'd never expect, or want, politics to be cut out of the process, just not as a defining force.

I include political subject matter in the broader scope of comtemporary social comentary. Politics is just one aspect of "hot belief topics", religion, gay rights, and environmental causes being others (there are certainly more). But, politics seems to bring out the "best" (ha) of all of us when it comes to social beliefs.

I think there are quite a few people who view An Inconvenient Truth as a political film even though Gore attempts to catagorize it as "not a political issue but a moral one".