By Charlie Wachtel
Today the Academy announced that it is altering its voting system for Best Picture so that members of the Academy will rank their favorites of the year by preference, with the award going to whichever film ranks highest on average (instead of simply selecting their opinion of the best film). This is just about the worst idea ever. An increasingly democratic Oscar’s ballot is not going to deliver any more justice to the system. In fact, if anything it will result in choosing a film for Best Picture that is entirely unworthy of the award.
Is Oscar losing his luster?
Traditionally in the last few decades, members of the Academy voted for their absolute favorite film among the selection of five films. Now that number is ten–a brilliant move to bolster DVD sales, box office results, and Oscar ratings which now grants five additional films with the marketing glamour of being considered as a nomination for Best Picture. A smart move all around.
But now things get a wee bit more political. If, for example, there are two films which are overwhelmingly popular versus the other eight, the films which average out as a safe 2nd or 3rd place on a person’s ballot have a clear-cut advantage of winning the award for Best Picture. So now Academy voters will have the power to doctor a film’s ranking artificially, thereby resulting in the lesser deserving films coming out on top.
Since when was Best Picture the average accumulation of the Academy’s favorite selection? This greatly affects those louder films or films which are polar opposites of each other while benefiting films conservative in their approach. Something tells me we’re in for a lot of upsets. And unlike the NCAA Tournament’s “Big Dance,” the Academy simply cannot afford to sacrifice its prestige (and ratings) by continuing in this direction.
Seriously folks, do we really want The Reader winning Best Picture?
Charlie Wachtel is a Senior Writer for The Film Crusade and Founder of www.filmcrusade.com.
