Definitive Proof That Academy Voters Are Ignorant About Animation

[Shaka Zulu]

The Hollywood Reporter recently published interviews with seven anonymous Academy members about how they voted for this year’s nominees. Four of the seven Academy members abstained from voting for best animated feature. The three that did vote all chose Frozen. Here is what each of them said:

Definitive Proof That Academy Voters Are Ignorant About Animation

This is the reason why I don't watch the Oscars all of the time, and why (IMHO) it's a good thing that the Saturday morning blocks are dead and gone (with a few exceptions.)

 

[Gaith]

^ You and Cartoon Brew may not like their tastes, but there's a difference between disinterest and ignorance. And the first voter isn't exactly wrong; four of the five nominees were movies for children. So to vote properly, one would be asking him/her to sit through four movies he/she has no interest in just to get to one movie made primarily for adults. You don't exactly see those sorts of ratios in the supporting actors categories, now, do you?

 

[Professor Zoom]

I'm not sure I see the problem. Those that didn't see them didn't vote--which is better than voting and NOT seeing.

And the others really liked Frozen. Is that the problem?

 

[Timby]

I'm not sure why anyone should be shocked; it was a bad year for animation. Motherfucking Croods got a nomination, that's how bad it was.

 

[Gaith]

And, in the "let he who cast the first stone" department, may I note that I can find in search no Trek BBS threads devoted to Waltz with Bashir, Persepolis, or The Illusionist (not the Ed Norton one), three of the most critically acclaimed animated movies in recent memory... but we did have one for Planes. And Croods (two posts, aye, but still a thread).

Granted, most of us aren't Academy voters, but it's not as though we're really carrying the torch for animation "awareness" ourselves here.

 

[Trekker4747]

^ You and Cartoon Brew may not like their tastes, but there's a difference between disinterest and ignorance. And the first voter isn't exactly wrong; four of the five nominees were movies for children. So to vote properly, one would be asking him/her to sit through four movies he/she has no interest in just to get to one movie made primarily for adults. You don't exactly see those sorts of ratios in the supporting actors categories, now, do you?

Isn't that kinda their "job" though? I mean, should they be excused from watching one of the best-picture nominations because, say, they're not interested in a certain type of movie that one of the nominees are? If you're going to judge something makes sense to see all of the things you're judging than say, "Meh, not interested."

 

[Shaka Zulu]

^ You and Cartoon Brew may not like their tastes, but there's a difference between disinterest and ignorance. And the first voter isn't exactly wrong; four of the five nominees were movies for children. So to vote properly, one would be asking him/her to sit through four movies he/she has no interest in just to get to one movie made primarily for adults. You don't exactly see those sorts of ratios in the supporting actors categories, now, do you?

They're supposed to be watching the totality of animated movies released last year,and not all of them are for kids (The Wind Rises, Ernest et Celestine, The Secret of Kells to name a few.) Where the fuck do they get these people?

Oh well, as somebody else said, give it 30 years, these idiots will all be dead and people who care will be voting, finally.

 

[Gaith]

^ So animated diversions like Despicable Me 2 are more important than human beings? Glad your heart's in the right place.

Isn't that kinda their "job" though? I mean, should they be excused from watching one of the best-picture nominations because, say, they're not interested in a certain type of movie that one of the nominees are? If you're going to judge something makes sense to see all of the things you're judging than say, "Meh, not interested."

To be pedantic, they're not paid to watch these movies and vote, so no, it's not really their "job". There are critics' groups who do vote for best this and that. Also, as Professor Zoom noted, at least those that abstained didn't merely vote for the most popular pick.

The Oscars are a popularity contest more than anything. Getting upset over anything to do with them is silly. (Not that you are getting upset - a general point.)

 

[sojourner]

Voting is a privilege, not a requirement. Perfectly acceptable for someone to abstain if they don't feel qualified.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I guess I don't see the problem. Their answers don't look very ignorant to me, it looks like a legit vote. I'm glad to see people are abstaining in categories that they don't feel are relevant to them rather than choosing based on what they've heard about the film.

 

[MacLeod]

Some of the reasons given for not voting seem perfectle valid to me. Not everyone likes animated films, but if it tells a good story does it matter if it;s live-action or animated?

Also not voting because you don't have a clear favourite or haven't seen them all so it's unfair to judge something you haven't seen are also good reasons for not voting.

In terms of best film (prior to a sperate award for animated) two genre's didn't fair welll when it came to that category, Animated and Sci-Fi/Fantasy.

 

[Dream]

And, in the "let he who cast the first stone" department, may I note that I can find in search no Trek BBS threads devoted to Waltz with Bashir, Persepolis, or The Illusionist (not the Ed Norton one), three of the most critically acclaimed animated movies in recent memory... but we did have one for Planes. And Croods (two posts, aye, but still a thread).

Granted, most of us aren't Academy voters, but it's not as though we're really carrying the torch for animation "awareness" ourselves here.

^ So animated diversions like Despicable Me 2 are more important than human beings? Glad your heart's in the right place.

Monsters University also had one topic with 3 posts.

Funnily enough Despicable Me 2, the second biggest animated movie of 2013 after Frozen, had ZERO topics started to talk about the movie. Shows how much people here cared about that.

 

[Starbreaker]

So you didn't like Frozen? These are not full time jobs where people sot around and watch 45325 movies made every year.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

In terms of best film (prior to a sperate award for animated) two genre's didn't fair welll when it came to that category, Animated and Sci-Fi/Fantasy.

The Academy has a strong preference for drama (contemporary drama and especially historical drama) in the Best Picture category, along with musicals when they're being produced. Other types of movies - sci-fi, fantasy, action/adventure (unless in the form of an historical epic or a very serious western, which then go under the historical drama rubric), comedy, etc - only occasionally get nominations and very rarely win.

Animated movies probably would have started to fare well in the Best Picture category, including scoring some wins, had it not been for the creation of the separate category for them.

 

[Dream]

In terms of best film (prior to a sperate award for animated) two genre's didn't fair welll when it came to that category, Animated and Sci-Fi/Fantasy.

The Academy has a strong preference for drama (contemporary drama and especially historical drama) in the Best Picture category, along with musicals when they're being produced. Other types of movies - sci-fi, fantasy, action/adventure (unless in the form of an historical epic or a very serious western, which then go under the historical drama rubric), comedy, etc - only occasionally get nominations and very rarely win.

Animated movies probably would have started to fare well in the Best Picture category, including scoring some wins, had it not been for the creation of the separate category for them.

It's important to remember that any animated film nominated in the Best Animated Feature category can still be nominated for Best Picture, as Up and Toy Story 3 proved.

But I don't see any animated film winning BP any time soon. Unlike in Japan, animation is still treated as a kids genre in America. It doesn't help that 95% of the AMPAS (Academy) voters are over 50 years old, the median age is 62.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

It's important to remember that any animated film nominated in the Beast Animated Feature category can still be nominated for Best Picture, as Up and Toy Story 3 proved.

Yep, but the fact that they also have a separate award makes it very tough for them to win Best Picture. It saps them of some BP votes because people can honor them in a different category. They'd have a much better shot at winning Best Picture if there was no separate category for Best Animated Feature.

 

[Dream]

Yep, but the fact that they also have a separate award makes it very tough for them to win Best Picture. It saps them of some BP votes because people can honor them in a different category. They'd have a much better shot at winning Best Picture if there was no separate category for Best Animated Feature.

Perhaps. But I'm glad the Best Animated Feature category was created in the first place. People that have been working on animated movies have been able to be awarded for their hard work since 2001. I think it would be insulting to get rid of the BAF category at this point.

Disney recently won their first BAF Award, even after making a decade of classic animated films in the 90s which have become known as the Disney Renaissance. Those films had no Oscar wins outside Best Original Song and Score which is a shame.

 

[Gaith]

Not everyone likes animated films, but if it tells a good story does it matter if it;s live-action or animated?

It absolutely can, if you live in LA and depend on the movie business for your livelihood. Say you or close friends of yours work in set construction, costuming, lighting, stunts, etc.: by and large, none of those people will be hired to work on an animated movie. People whose lives revolve around film production thus have a perfectly natural reason to not be wild about the prospect of more studio dollars going to render farms than jobs that benefit them personally. And sure, there are people who work on animated movies that wouldn't be hired to work on a live-action movie, but they don't balance each other out; those are different cultures. Heck, Pixar isn't even based in SoCal.

Animated movies probably would have started to fare well in the Best Picture category, including scoring some wins

No. (See above.)

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

^^^
Disagree. Most people who work in those fields aren't members of the Academy.

When Beauty and the Beast scored a Best Picture nomination in 1991 it was commonly thought within the industry that an animated film would eventually win Best Picture. There was enough sentiment in line with the kind of thinking you outlined above within the Academy leadership that they sought to prevent that from happening, most importantly with the creation of the Best Animated Feature category.

Even so, some animated movies have been nominated in both the Best Picture and Best Animated Feature categories, speaking to the strength of animated movies with rank and file Academy voters. If animated movies didn't have their own category they probably would have had a very good chance at scoring some Best Picture wins. For many Academy members they've largely replaced the musical as high quality family entertainment, movies that most Academy members have seen with their children and/or grandchildren and have appreciation for, and indeed a lot of non-Pixar animated movies actually are animated musicals.

 

[Kirby]

I don't have a problem with people who didn't vote because they didn't see them all, or anamation is not their thing, that's fine. I do have a problem with the arrogant douche who admited to abandoning his 6 year old in a theater while he made phone calls in the lobby. It may not be your 'thing' pal, but how about spending some time with your kid because it is his/her thing. I've sat through a lot of god-awful movies because my kids wanted to see them, and it was an experience that we could both share and talk about. Also, what kind of impression does it leave on the kid when Dad bails out on every movie the kid wants to see (and I really hope that he doesn't leave the kid alone in the theater).