I care way too much about the Academy Awards. I get legitimately upset when an actor like Jake Gyllenhaal does not get a Best Actor nomination for his work in Nightcrawler. Not just write-in-all-caps on Twitter upset, but actually upset because I take it as a personal slight. I understand in the grand scheme of things that this type of stuff does not matter. Genocide exists, America’s economy is still not doing great, there is still an inordinate amount of gender and racial inequality, but I still get upset at The Academy Awards. They matter to me. I know that I care about films too much and I watch too many films than I care to admit (or rather freely admit). I write about films, I talk about films, and sometimes I can’t even enjoy a simple film because I have to over-analyze it. It is this love and passion for what filmmakers do that cause me to unnecessarily care about what The Academy does and does not do. Even if you do not share the same passion that I do (which frankly you should not), you should still care about The Academy Awards.
No other award show has an impact over its medium than The Academy Awards do over films. The Academy Awards have an incredible impact on not only the habits of movie goers, but also the types of films that get made. Many roles that actors choose to take or projects that producers choose to undertake are the result of trying to win an Academy Award. You may not care about who wins an Academy Award, but actors, directors, and producers certainly do. There is nothing more prestigious than having that advertisement say “starring Oscar nominated So And So”. It brings instant credibility to your craft and eternal gratification for yourself. Sally Field famously said while accepting her Best Actress award for her work in Places of the Heart “You like me! You really like me!”. More recently, Matthew McConaughey wiped away 10-15 years of terrible work by winning an Oscar for his work in Dallas Buyers Club. While of course actors would also like to get paid, and the pool of actors starring in a superhero franchise seems to be growing exponentially, the old adage of “one for me, one for the studios” still seems to hold true. Whether studios keep this mindset to appease the actors or the other way around, there’s no denying that actors still chose “juicy” and “challenging” roles- which translates to “attempting to win an Oscar”.
