Sunday Best: Anti-Populist Academy Awards

I know I have made this point a lot, but the Academy Awards keeps shooting itself in the foot with their insistence on its anti-populism.

Again, the popular film isn't always the best.  But the Academy appears to have an aversion to things that are popular among the movie-going audience.

Allow me to demonstrate.  Here is an analysis of the Top Grossing Films by year for the 2000's, along with the rank of the highest grossing non-animated, non-franchise film and the ranking of The winner of the Best Picture Oscar:

Top Grossing Film	Non-Franchise/Non Animated Top Grosser	Gross Rank of "Best Picture
1. How the Grinch Stole Christmas	2. Cast Away	4. Gladiator
1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone	7. Pearl Harbor	11. A Beautiful Mind
1. Spider-Man	5. My Big Fat Greek Wedding	10. Chicago
1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	7. Elf	1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
1. Shrek 2	3. The Passion of the Christ	24. Million Dollar Baby
1. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith	4. War of the Worlds	49. Crash
1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	10. The Pursuit of Happyness	15. Departed
1. Spider-Man 3	6. I am Legend	36. No Country For Old Men
1. The Dark Knight	12. Gran Torino (Hancock (#4 in gross) is technically not a franchise film, but it was intended to be).	16. Slumdog Millionaire
1. Avatar	8. The Blind Side	116. The Hurt Locker
1. Toy Story 3	6. Inception	18. King's Speech
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt 2	13. The Help	71. The Artist
1. The Avengers	13. Lincoln	22. Argo
1. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire	6. Gravity	62. 12 Years a Slave
1. American Sniper	1. American Sniper	78. Birdman
1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens	8. The Martian	62. Spotlight
1. Rogue One: A Star Wars Stor	14. Hidden Figures	95. Moonlight

You can see the breakdown like this:

Only The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was the highest grossing film of the year to win Best Picture.  

Notice too how erratic the grosses are for Best Picture.  The Academy seems to have a hard time giving an Oscar to a semi popular movie.  After 2003, every time a relatively popular film wins an Oscar, the Academy goes out of its way to choose an obscure film.    Look at the swing between Slumdog Millionaire, The Hurt Locker, and The King's Speech.  And if you notice the trend since 2012, the Academy is moving further and further away from popular films.

But even if you controlled for non-franchise, non-animated films, the Academy is not in step with the movie-going public.  Granted, most of the films in this category were nominated for Oscars, but they rarely won.  Even if the Academy decided eliminate every franchise or animated film from Best Picture contention, they are still incredibly far apart from their audience.  

What does this mean?

The Academy voters want to tell us what is good.  But I tend to trust the movie-going public more.  But I think it goes beyond that.  Look at the themes in the non-franchise, non-sequel films:

Movie	Theme
2. Cast Away	Hold on to hope
7. Pearl Harbor	Patriotism and friendship
5. My Big Fat Greek Wedding	Family and Marriage
7. Elf	Family and Christmas spirit
3. The Passion of the Christ	The Love of God
4. War of the Worlds	Protectiveness of Fathers
10. The Pursuit of Happyness	Protectiveness of Fathers
6. I am Legend	Faith and self-sacrifice
12. Gran Torino (Hancock (#4 in gross) is technically not a franchise film, but it was intended to be).	Caring for others who are different and self-sacrifice
8. The Blind Side	Family and racial unity
6. Inception	The nature of dreams
13. The Help	Human dignity and racial justice
13. Lincoln	Human dignity and leadership
6. Gravity	Survival and faith
1. American Sniper	Patriotism and courage
8. The Martian	Innovation and courage
14. Hidden Figures	innovation and racial justice

For the Oscar winners its this:

Movie	Theme
4. Gladiator	Strength and Honor
11. A Beautiful Mind	Love overcomes all challenges
10. Chicago	Fame corrupts
1. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	Courage and Goodness against evil
24. Million Dollar Baby	Handicapped life isn't worth living
49. Crash	Everyone is racist
15. Departed	Life is unjust
36. No Country For Old Men	We're all going to die
16. Slumdog Millionaire	Life is all connected
116. The Hurt Locker	War is a drug
18. King's Speech	We can overcome our handicaps
71. The Artist	Adapt or die
22. Argo	Courage and creative movie-making
62. 12 Years a Slave	courage and endurance
78. Birdman	Art is better than life
62. Spotlight	Corruption in the Church
95. Moonlight	Racial and orientation injustice.

Now my interpretations of the theme are debatable.  But for the most part, there is a higher appeal to traditional values in the first list as opposed to the last list.  

I believe the Academy is not only trying to sell us on style, but on theme.  The reason why is that themes deal with the transcendent part of the story and those are the places that truly affect our world-view.  I believe that as the years have gone on, the Academy is less interested in reflecting the themes that truly are universal to all humans and instead focus on trying to push new and innovative themes.

This is a mistake for several reasons.  But the primary reason is this:  truth always wins out.

If art is not touching on something truly transcendent and universal, then it is too much tied to the zeitgeist.  And when that happens, it becomes quickly out of fashion.

Be honest, in the last 10 years, from which list of films are you going to find movies that are still relevant?  And from which list will we find movie that will be relevant in 30 years?

The Academy voters need to stop thinking only of the moment but of the film's place in the pantheon of great films.  To horribly repurpose and paraphrase a quote about Shakespeare, great movies should not be for only their time, but for all time.