The Oscars were on Sunday. Sadly no one got slapped or anything major happened.
One thing that did make me feeling internally oppressed the Oscars don’t respect animation as much as they should or used to.
Animated films used to be nominated in every category, not just “Best Animated Picture.” Before the Best Animated Picture category was rolled out in 2002, animations were still nominated for categories for Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, and so on. It wasn’t until the mid-2010’s animation was strictly limited to the Best Animated Picture. Hearing the hosts present the award in 2022 make it sound like the academy treats animated films as “for kids.” Saying they nominate films that their kids like. Animation is a medium, not a genre. You can’t compare “South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut” and “Anomalisa (2015)” with the “Shaun the Sheep Movie” and the “Paw Patrol Movie.”
DreamWorks, Pixar, and many other animated studios have made beautiful works of art. Both in terms of visuals and script. I’m willing to bet the entire budget of “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” which set a new record for the most Oscars won across multiple categories that if it was the exact same movie but animated, the best the academy would do is nominate it to “Best Animated Picture”. Doing the bare minimum making it nominated and throwing it a bone by making it win.
But it is what it is. I personally never needed a movie to win any awards to make it excellent in my book. I just wish the people who work on animation get more respect.