One Corporation Cannot Own the Animated Feature Oscar
Big Hero 6′s Oscar win, along with the snub of The LEGO Movie, has generated more discussion about the Oscars’ animated feature category than ever before. The discussions happening though are for all the wrong reasons. No one is talking about the films themselves, but rather about how the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has a tenuous grasp on judging the merits of animated features.
Now would therefore be as good a time as any to point out how overwhelmingly skewed the Academy Awards animated feature category has become in favor of one corporation and why the Academy must address the issue of blind-voting in this category. I explained my position earlier this afternoon in a series of posts on Twitter:
1) With BIG HERO 6's win this year, Disney/Pixar has won @TheAcademy's Best Animated Feature Oscar 7 of last 8 years.
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
2) The only year Disney/Pixar hasn't won in the last 8 years was 2011 because their films were CARS 2 and WINNIE THE POOH.
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
3) Many Disney/Pixar films are good. Best animated productions for nearly a decade? Ridiculous nonsense.
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
4) No corporation dominates a single Oscar category like Disney Company has with the Animated Feature category.
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
5) Hard to justify when other noms in that period include PERSEPOLIS/FANTASTIC MR. FOX/KAGUYA/HTTYD2/ERNEST&CELESTINE/WIND RISES/SONG…SEA
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
6) Not to mention all the amazing films that weren't even nominated because of @TheAcademy's limited viewpoint on animation art.
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
7) What limited viewpoint? How about the presenters referencing a 20-year-old film during the presentation of this year's award.
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
8) This is nothing new for animation—@TheAcademy members don't respect the artform and have historically engaged in "blind voting" patterns.
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
9) For example, Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera's Tom & Jerry shorts won 7 out of 10 years between 1943 and 1952.
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
10) Walt Disney himself won best short 8 years in a row(!) between 1932 and 1939.
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
11) Now, same trend has reared its ugly head again at @TheAcademy.
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
12) But today's film consumers are vastly more educated and care about animation more than @TheAcademy; they recognize they're being played.
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
13) They know something's wrong—As the art form grows more diverse, @TheAcademy narrows its viewpoint, choosing to acknowledge 1 corporation
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
14) It makes @TheAcademy appear to be an organization that doesn't respect the full breadth of the art form they're supposed to be honoring.
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
15) The animation community as a whole must respect itself enough to not accept this treatment.
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
16) The animation community needs to educate @TheAcademy: Our art form matters—lots of amazing filmmakers are making films of all stripes.
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
17) The animation community needs to demand Oscar voters actually view the films AS FILMS & not let their children pick the winners for them
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
18) Many in our community are already @TheAcademy members. They need to compel the organization to make real changes to its process.
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
19) Let me be perfectly clear: I could care less about which film wins as long as the voting process is fair.
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
20) I'm rooting for the art form & I care that the nominated films compete on an equal playing field where the most deserving films win.
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
21) Animation doesn't grow or evolve when the same corporation is honored annually—especially when their films aren't the strongest annually
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
22)As long as the Oscars remain a prestigious platform for animated films, we must hold @TheAcademy accountable for respecting our community
— Amid Amidi (@amid) February 25, 2015
Bottomline: Modifications to the Academy’s voting process for the animated feature category are necessary to break the monopoly on the award.
Award shows routinely revamp their rules to make things more fair. For example, a few years ago ASIFA-Hollywood overhauled the voting process of its Annie Awards after (get ready for irony) Disney threatened to withdraw all of their films from the show because, they claimed, the voting process was skewed.
The Academy needs to recognize that there’s something woefully wrong when one corporation essentially owns one of their categories, and must institute meaningful rule changes to create a fairly judged category.
