It’s Oscars 2016, a time usually hyped up with office pools, popcorn and glamorous celebrities trapsing the Red Carpet. Yet there’s an air of uncertainty hanging over this year’s broadcast, a cloud brought on by the seeming lack of diversity that’s plaguing Hollywood.
One of my favorite magazines, Entertainment Weekly, for the first time in years, didn’t even want to risk putting Oscars on its front cover, something unheard of if you’ve read the magazine as long as I have (last year they did TWO Oscars related covers leading up to the big show)
Which brings us to one of the intriguing and in many ways anomalous films to be nominated this year: George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road.
What makes it so anomalous you might ask? Let us count the ways:
1) It’s a sci-fi film up for two major awards, Best Picture and Best Director…and it just might win!
Talk about lack of diversity, sci-fi and blockbuster films for years have gotten little to no love from the Academy (Hello to any of the Chris Nolan Batman movies – Heath Ledger’s untimely demise being the exception). So the fact that George Miller is being recognized – for a franchise movie no less! – is really quite the achievement.
2) It’s both a case supporting the #OscarsSoWhite diversity controversy and a testament to how far we’ve come.
Two words: Imperator Furiosa. While yes, this is a whitewashed cast which was one of the big complaints surrounding the movement Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee started, the fact that Charlize Theron steals the show in a successful blockbuster, without having to exhibit the usual feminine wiles speaks volumes. Heck, you can make the case the movie’s pretty much about her and Tom Hardy is just along for the ride.
3) It’s a giant freakin’ car chase!
The movie Brooklyn is atypical Oscars fare: a movie no one’s ever seen (or even heard of to be honest) that takes place in real time, in quiet settings, with emotional characters experiencing coming-of-age type changes. Not face painted post-apocalyptic rejects shredding guitars, pole vaulting across the screen while cruising at 90 miles per hour. Beat that Brooklyn…
Who do you think will win Best Picture at the Oscars? Take our Twitter poll NOW!.
And tune in this Friday 11am ET as we break down the favorites to win and are we even allowed to root for any of them because their white? Plus, we look at the anomaly that is Mad Max, the only pop culture/sci-fi pic up for major awards. And why it’s the one film that’s both a case for the diversity movement and against it. Secrets of the Sire: Friday 11am ET on TalkingAlternative.com
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