The Dark Knight was released in 2008 to critical acclaim and box office success.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (The Academy) nominated Heath Ledger for Best Supporting Actor for his diabolical and exquisite portrayal of The Joker. The film was bestowed with a total of 8 Oscars nominations, winning 2 including a posthumous statuette for Ledger.
To my surprise, and that of many, it wasn't nominated for Best Picture.
This seems to have broken The Academy.
In 2009 The Academy expanded the Best Picture category from 5 nominees to 10 nominees (2 years later it revised the rule to at least 5 nominees with a maximum of 10). This is sometimes called The Dark Knight rule (or Wall.E rule).
When TDK wasn't nominated (or Christopher Nolan nominated for Best Director) I was mad, but I let it go. When I saw the rule change I felt it was misguided, I didn't want a rule change that would cheapen the Best Picture category, all I wanted to know is why it wasn't nominated in the first place and FIX THAT.
Maybe there was nothing to fix. The Academy did recognized it in 8 categories but for whatever reason it didn't deemed TDK worthy of a Best Picture nomination. It is what it is, people have opinions. I let it go.
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In recent years The Academy has made changes to their membership composition to reflect a more diverse, active and younger segment of the film industry. This has included a new members that as a % increases the number of females, minorities, international filmmakers while being more extrict about purging inactive members from their list. I felt that if the high standard for membership was maintained but applied to a wither range of individuals this could be nothing but beneficial to The Academy as a whole and yes, in some way, by expanding the background and experiences of the individuals that composed The Academy then as a side effect it would lead to a membership more conducing to the probability of nominating a The Dark Knight-like movie for Best Picture in the future.
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Today The Academy has announced that it will add a "Popular Film Category" called "Outstanding Achievement in Popular Film".
This reeks of desperation. And it seems it is in response, or fear, to the possibility that Black Panther might not be nominated for Best Picture.
I haven't seen Black Panther, maybe it deserves to be nominated for Best Picture, maybe it doesn't.
But here we are, yes, 10 years later after the release of The Dark Knight and The Academy is desperate enough for viewers (last year it was the least watched ceremony to date) that they have created a whole new category just to pander to the masses.
The Best Picture category has been expended to at least 10 spots, if Black Panther doesn't get nominated then maybe it doesn't deserve it. 10 years later we have an expanded category and a more diverse membership and The Academy is so scare of the possible backlash/continued loss of viewership that they have lessen themselves like a whore.
When I first saw the headline I thought it was a joke, then I thought that this was most assuredly an idea that was being discussed to maybe be implemented in the future, but nop, it is actually happening.
I dislike when people talk and talk about how things are bad but never take meaningful action to better themselves or the situation they think ought to change/improve. Aside from limiting the ceremony to 3 hours changes to be implemented by The Academy include the fact that "select categories will be presented during commercial breaks. Winning moments will be edited and later aired during the broadcast." according to Variety.com Fewer people are watching the Oscars every year (with some exceptions). Isn't that just a general trend? People are cord cutting. Plus the country is politically polarized so a huge chunk of the population is automatically turn-off by a ceremony that is too preachy. Sometimes no change is better than any change.
Here is the perfect test for The Academy to learn whether or not the changes they have made to the composition of their membership and the number of Best Picture spots produce the results they are looking for. They don't have faith in themselves or the process they have set up.
10 years later The Academy is still chasing the one that got away, they can't let it go.