Opinion | For Your Consideration: Forget the Oscars - Dig the Spirits Awards

 

"Last year, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded its top prize to " Green Book," a feel-good period drama about a white man learning to be less racist through forced interaction with a black man. Immediately, many people called this out as a stain on the Academy's record, proof voters remain out of touch with the current cultural climate.

Many movie lovers, myself included, were understandably upset and disappointed.

In all likelihood you may have forgotten - or may not even have been aware - that the Film Independent Spirit Awards, held the night before the Oscars, went a very different route. " If Beale Street Could Talk," a period drama about a black couple torn apart by a racist system, was critically acclaimed for its visuals, Barry Jenkins's direction and the performances. Despite being set decades in the past, its themes felt particularly relevant and resonant. "Beale Street," however, wasn't even nominated for best picture at the Oscars. But it was deemed best picture at the Film Independent Spirit Awards.

If only we had paid less attention to the Oscars and cared more about the Spirit Awards. We should care more about the Spirit Awards.

Among the most egregious examples: the best-picture Oscar for "Driving Miss Daisy," a decision many critics have cited as one of the worst made by the Academy, not unlike "Green Book." That same year, the Spirit Awards celebrated "Sex, Lies, and Videotape," Steven Soderbergh's impressive debut that has been credited with changing the landscape of indie filmmaking. In 1994, the Oscar went to "Forrest Gump," a film that has more recently faced criticism for its whitewashed version of United States history and conservative view of women's sexuality. In contrast, the Spirit Award that year went to "Pulp Fiction," a narrative-bending film that has become a touchstone in film history."

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article by Veronica Walshingham

Opinion | For Your Consideration: Forget the Oscars: