In the Movies Ep. 20: 2016 Awards Season

You'll know from listen to our podcast that Juliana and I don't put much weight to film awards. We're more of the thinking that movies are art and art is too subjective and personal to be label "good" or "bad" or ranked or rated. Not that we don't acknowledge the vast amounts and variety of technical work that goes into making films. Like in the case of Carol, we could see that the movie was very well made in nearly every aspect, but we just weren't drawn into the story and the characters. "Technically good" does not mean everyone will enjoy it.

Despite our history of seeing very few Oscar-winning movies and refusing to give movies a quantitative rating, we felt we couldn't let this year's awards season go by unmentioned. We wanted to focus mostly on the Oscars, since it is the biggest deal in both the industry and the public's eyes. And because of that, its problems like #OscarsSoWhite (for the second year in a row) and lack of women and LGBT recognition are also big deals. 

So, listen up as we discuss the Oscars past & present, who's voting for the Oscars, and how people of color, women, and the LGBT community fair at the awards, and in the industry.

Sources

Academy Awards [Wikipedia]

Academy Awards Statistics [Awards Database]

88th Academy Awards [Wikipedia]

It's Time for Oscar Voting: Here's How It Works [The Wrap]

Who Votes for the Oscars? [Digital Spy]

Academy President Issues Lengthy Statement on Lack of Oscars Diversity [Hollywood Reporter]

How Racial Skewed are the Oscars? [The Economist]

2016 was the best year for women at the Oscars in ages. But that’s not saying much. [Vox]

5 Shocking Statistics about Gender Inequity and Academy Awards [Indiewire]

Oscar Best Picture Nominees: Where are the Women Behind the Scenes? [Refinery 29]

Oscars: Women Receive Less Than 1 in 5 Nominations in Non-Acting Categories [Variety]

12 Openly Gay Oscar Winners [Buzzfeed Video]

Ian McKellen: 'Why has no openly gay man ever won the best actor Oscar?' [The Guardian]

Listen on iTunes, Podbean, or stay right here with the player below! Let us know what you think about this episode, suggest future episodes, or just say hi by emailing us at inthemoviespodcast@gmail.com or tweeting us @IntheMoviesPod!