In 1931, Margaret Herrick — who was an Academy Award librarian and future director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences — saw the gold statue for the first time. Her response was it looked like her uncle Oscar. Since then, the Academy Awards are commonly known as The Oscars.
Ever since the first awards in 1929, the show’s been growing in prestige and popularity. Millions tuned in last year to see Leonardo DiCaprio finally win an Oscar after being nominated six times.
This year’s show, which will take place Feb. 26 and be presented by Jimmy Kimmel, might be the first since 1984 to give an award for best original musical. In the 33 years since then, though the award has been on the books, due to a lack of original musicals (the musicals released following Purple Rain were based on pre-existing material) it has not been awarded. This year, La La Land, an original musical, made waves at the Golden Globes and stands a chance of taking the award, as well as a couple others such as best picture, best actor, best actress, and even best director.
While the films of 2016 may have appeared to be nothing but sequels, remakes and flops, there are more than a few original pictures worthy of an Oscar or two. Arrival, for example, is an original film about a linguist trying to decipher an alien language which has already picked up a couple of awards due to wonderful performances by Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner. Speaking of space, Hidden Figures also makes a strong case. The story of the long ignored accomplishments of women in NASA and their struggles dealing with sexism and racism in the 1960s has received critical success. A best picture award would certainly do it justice, given a remarkable cast and plot. Natalie Portman’s performance as Jackie Kennedy in the biographical drama Jackie also poses a strong contender for best actress in a leading role, while Mark Wahlberg as a police sergeant hunting for the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing in the film Patriots Day may take best actor in a leading role.
The best picture award is always a hot topic but best animated feature award has some pretty stiff competition this year with both Kubo and the Two Strings and Disney’s Zootopia as possible contenders. Disney is one of the biggest players in the film industry, let alone the animation industry, and Zootopia is a strong, original film about racism and fear politics with powerful imagery. It seems the most likely choice for the win. However, Kubo and the Two Strings was beautifully animated, had a powerful message about death, family and compassion with a stellar cast. It has already received some accolades, so it is difficult to tell at this point whether it or the former will take the win.
There have been accusations of the awards being influenced more by marketing than quality, tending to nominate and award romantic historical epics, biographical dramas and romantic dramedies released in the three-month period before the show, known as the “Oscar season.” Others accused the award of being biased and only selecting white actors and actresses. Still, millions tune in every year.
With changes underway to promote diversity in their nominees, a variety of worthwhile films from the past year to choose from including Hacksaw Ridge, The Birth of a Nation, The Jungle Book, Sully, Manchester by the Sea, and Hail, Caesar, and a ton of celebrity involvement, the 2017 Academy Awards are shaping up to be one hell of a good show, even without DiCaprio on the list of nominees.
