Or just don't worry about getting an Oscar

Today, CinemaBlend posted an article by Sean O'Connell titled "Why Disney Not Pushing Avengers: Infinity War For The Oscars Is A Huge Mistake". 

In it, O'Connell states that, in his opinion, Disney's decision to campaign for Avengers: Infinity War's consideration in merely the Best Visual Effects category, while also campaigning Black Panther for a number of categories (including not only Best Sound Mixing, Film Editing, Cinematography, but also the "big" categories like Best Actor,  Best DIRECTOR, AND BBBB-BEST PICTURE??) is a 'slap in the face" to Infinity War.  Sorry, run-on sentence.

O'Connell (I'm calling him OC from now on, I'm sick of typing his name already, it's so hard) goes on to theorize that Disney might be attempting to avoid competing against themselves with the two movies and suggests that Black Panther might indeed have a better shot at awards because it's a more progressive film and the Academy loves that kinda shit. Big surprise.

I just want to briefly comment here. I love both films. They're really good. I have to be honest, I like Infinity War a lot more. It's a culmination of multiple character arcs, storylines, team-ups, etc. I think the writing is great, the action sequences are mind-blowing, and the actors' performances are top-notch. I can see OC's point. It's a higher bar to achieve, and still Anthony and Joe Russo reached it.

Incredible films that happen to feature a comic book main character (Christopher Nolan's gripping crime thriller The Dark Knight, James Mangold's deeply moving Logan) have had brief encounters with the Oscars, but have never really been taken seriously as legitimate vehicles for truth in storytelling. Hollywood likes to go on and on about being inclusive, encouraging diversity, and exploring all avenues of telling a good story. But they're not about to hand artistic validation to movies based on colored-image books for kids. I know. It's stupid.

That's why I don't watch the Oscars. Not just for the snubbing of superhero movies, which by all accounts, have been killing it with the maturity of their stories, but for the general snobbery, in my opinion, which should be obvious, this is my blog page, after all, it's gonna be my opinion, BUT YES, the general snobbery towards any film that doesn't fit this idiotic high standard (sort of) of "art". If it's not about a minority overcoming adversity, a bad person getting their comeuppance (sp??), or a weird throwback to forms of storytelling that the general public in 2018 does not care about (LaLa Land, The Artist), then they are not interested in inviting it to the club. Don't get me wrong, films matching those categories can be good films. Just not simply by virtue of meeting that criteria. Tell me a good story, dammit. Show me a character I can believe in. Give them obstacles. Let them grow and overcome those obstacles to make their dreams come true, like they deserve to. Or go the other way but make me feel something anyway. Why does it matter if that character is Nelson Mandela or a fucking mutant with metal claws who longs for a purpose?

This probably seems like it has nothing to do with the article I mentioned earlier. "Yikes, Conner, I was just wondering what you thought of Infinity War getting no Oscar love, not this weird diatribe about discriminatory criteria for storytelling against certain types of source material". I know, kind stranger, I know. I just need you to understand my feelings on this issue.

The only reason I watch the Oscars, if I do, is to score points with my wife, who has a theater background, and both of us having worked in live television, we can appreciate commentating on a live broadcast. But that's honestly it. I know, she's a lucky woman to have a stud like me willing to watch a tv show with her. I'm a real knight in shining sweatpants.

I don't care if Infinity War gets nominated for any awards. Or if Black Panther wins them all. It wouldn't mean much to me if Black Panther swept the Oscars because I'm cynical (and jaded) enough to forever suspect that their accolades were awarded not on the film's merits (which are AMPLE, it's a great film) but rather on the Academy and Hollywood doing what they do best (rivaled only by politicians): Pandering to their audience. Every once in a while, Hollywood pulls its head out of it's apple-boxed ass and remembers that the general public pays their meal ticket and they have to go mingle and keep us happy. So they nominate, wax poetic about, and pretend to care about the same movies you like. Softballing awards to Black Panther won't make them cool. It will just further expose the charade.

For the record, OC is right, still. Comic book films deserve to be recognized for their achievements. They're among the best films made today, not just among blockbusters like Transformers or Star Wars, but among smaller human dramas like Wind River or Ingrid Goes West. But if it's between being handed a participation trophy because they feel like they have to, and seeing a comic book film win Best Picture after 30 damn years of amazing comic book movies, I'll go with the 3 decades of injustice because at least then, I'll know they really mean it.

Oh and, alternatively, one could argue that the reason Disney is backing Black Panther over Infinity War is because they have a lot of faith in Avengers 4, their true cinematic opus, and they don't want to press their luck with two years in a row of "I know, I know, it's a comic book movie, but we think it's our best yet".