Oscars

[cos]

I didn't watch the Oscars. Sometimes I see someone say "I give up on the Oscars" after they make some particularly stupid award decision. I really gave up on the Oscars, a long time ago.

Go to this list of Oscars for "Best Costume Design" and scroll down to 1982, where you'll see:

1982: Bhanu Athaiya, Madeline Jones and John Mollo - Gandhi
Albert Wolsky - Sophie's Choice
Piero Tosi - La Traviata
Elois Jenssen and Rosanna Norton - Tron
Patricia Norris - Victor/Victoria

You know what other movie came out that year? This one.

What's the point of an award that doesn't even have a credible pretense of being about merit?

Comments

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Do puppet-costumes count as costumes, though?

[feuervogel]

Members of AMPAS vote on the Oscars. Just like members of WorldCon vote on the Hugos and members of SFWA vote on the Nebulas. In other words, they're popularity contests.

[yehoshua.livejournal.com]

A fascinating question would be: were they nominated by their studio? As in, before a picture can be considered in any category, they have to be nominated by a member of the Academy, usually someone from their studio or production company or distributor. Did that happen? If not, why not?

[slipstreamborne.livejournal.com]

While I think the clothing worn by the puppets could have qualified for the costume design award, I don't think the puppets themselves can or should be considered "costumes". Costumes are generally seperated from any effect that alters the actual physical appearance of the actor--be it prosthetics (judged under the makeup category) or computer animation (visual effects) or anywhere in between.

Visual effects is probably the best category for puppetry, since it sadly isn't prevalent in film enough to be judged as its own genre. The puppets and animatronics used in films like Alien and E.T. are part of what won them the Oscar in that category, for example.

ETA: Agh, carn't spel!

[soffistique.livejournal.com]

On an unrelated subject, but because it's something you might know something about, do you think that by and large the results of sports contests are legit? (e.g. figure skating, soccer, football, basketball). I ask the question because I know there can be high financial stakes.