Usually I’m not the kind of guy who thinks that outside events have too much influence on the Oscar race. I generally think it’s about the movies, more or less in a vacuum. But I do think that this week’s election-day results may have a profound effect on the Best Picture chances of two films. For starters, there’s The Dark Knight. I thought the sequence involving the two ferries (in which a group of commuters and a group of convicts have the power to blow up each others’ boats but don’t) was a bit too reality-show-ish for my taste. But I know most viewers loved it. Either way, that part of the film speaks to the innate goodness of human behavior. And let’s remember that Oscar ballots are due next January 12, just a week before Barack Obama is inaugurated. It’s safe to say most Hollywood types will also see that event as an example of innate human goodness. All of this only helps The Dark Knight’s chances, don’t you think?
Then there’s Milk. The other closely followed vote out in Los Angeles was the narrowly-won passing of California’s Prop 8, which adds an amendment to the state constitution banning gay marriage. There have already been large rallies protesting the outcome, events that look very similar to the staged rallies in Milk. And outrage among the entertainment community to this decision may serve to fuel the Academy’s support for a moving biopic about a murdered gay-rights activist and politician. A movie, by the way, that just happens to be coming out later this month.
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What a nothing article – please give me back the two minutes I wasted on this drivel.
What a nothing comment – please give me back the two seconds on wasted on this drivel.
Seriously, this was a really weak excuse for a blog post. Do you really think Oscar voters are thinking of such things when they cast their ballots? I think this post was riding on Obama’s coattails.
This is just about the dumbest thing I’ve ever read.
Eh, I think Karger is right on, guys – Hollywood and the Academy are notoriously VERY politically minded, and have often honored films that reflect their ideals and politics, regardless of whether they are really the “best” films (“American Beauty”, “Crash”, “Fahrenheit 9/11″, etc.) So you can bet that Tuesday’s outcome is going to have an impact on the Oscars this year, especially for the film “Milk”.
The Dark Knight should get best picture nod, because it is the best picture of the year hands down. Nothing else this year comes clost to what is has achieved visually and plot wise either. I highly doubt the oscars will over look the american publics point of view!
Surely you have something with more substance to write about. Considering this piece, they either need to can you or you should think about leaving voluntarily. At best this is a stretch and at worst, just plain inane.
I get the extra push for Milk. But I think the Batman scene is a bit of a stretch–if anything, Oscar voters are still remembering the Joker, who does not encompass the goodness in human beings.
Could you come and help my second graders write? Considering their age, wild thoughts are common. Considering what I suppose your age to be, it’s just sad.
Reading this in light of the recent commentary in the magazine pushing a Dark Knight nomination, EW (parent company WB) must REALLY REALLY want that Dark Knight Oscar.
It was a COMIC BOOK MOVIE. It may have been a good one (though I thought it was too long), but still: it was a COMIC BOOK MOVIE.
Please go get a life.. and get out of mine..
Jeez. Do you people have nothing better to do than criticize a bit on Oscar Watch? And I don’t really think Dave is trying to win a Nobel here. Lay off.
I don’t know about Obama helping out TDK much, but it’s an amazing movie that should get an Best Picture nom either way. The Academy needs to get over itself and its preference for high minded dramas (though of course they can be good too).
But Milk, I can definitely see that happening. I can’t wait to see it!
the win isn’t helping the review of this article, so i doubt it would affect the oscars. 2 snaps!
No this article is def. right on. Well maybe not about the Batman part but the gay rights thing is on the mark. It is surprising how many people feel this article has somehow wasted their life. What were you going to do with those two extra minutes? Please… you can keep your job.
You have a strong point about “Milk,” and probably should have devoted the blog post merely to that idea. That “Dark Knight” comment was just a really weak connection; what does the goodness of humanity have to do with the Oscars or the election?
Can we please stop pimping ‘The Dark Knight’ as an Oscar contender. It was a boring, predictable movie, and the scene with the ferries was about as cynical a take on racial prejudice as you can get.
Wow…what is up with the bashing? This is an entertainment site…This article is about entertainment. I don’t see any reason to be unnecessarily catty.
I think this reasoning for a DK nomination is a joke, but if “Milk” turns out to be as good as it seems like it will be, I definitely think the current political landscape would make it a sure-thing for at least a nomination. I just hope it doesn’t win simply to make up for “Brokeback Mountain” being overlooked for “Crash” a few years ago.
well, dave karger, perhaps I would agree if all the villains in The Dark Knight weren’t ethnic (Italian) or racial (Asian, Black) minorities or mentally ill (The Joker). Until then, relating this to Obama’s win is not only stupid, it’s insulting.
What a weirdo you are day.
If your point was relevant, and I don’t think it was as their were far greater issues than movies/propoganda that made the american people’s mind up. Then it would be the reverse. As in, what positive effect did THE Movie have on the election. Not vice versa. I’m sure the movie producers would like your sentiment though. Even though that movie was republcain propognada ( spying on everybody as justified, freedom and individuality portrayed in the imbodiment of an anarcist murderer criminal to justify batman/the police/govenrment allow no accountability for their lawlessness, when they are supposed to be the law.)
I waited for this movie with great anticipation. I was very turned off and see it as republican propoganda. Freedoms fighters and liberals are not anarcists. Freedom is not crime. Liberals are not bank robbers.
Maybe i was expecting more than I got. But that movie was a fraud. To batman fans, read the dark knight returns, by frank miller
I’m as tired of the pushing of the boring and predictable ‘Dark Knight’ for an Oscar as I am of the whole non-stop, EW is now Tiger Beat magazine coverage of ‘Twilight’.
cont.
The book has nothing to do with the movie, but is deeper than the ocean. I still can’t get a feed on what batman is, after much research. Is he an alagory for the gop to justify what they do and their criminality in the name of their “justice”. The bruce wayne charater seems like a compassionate liberal man. His alter ego is a fascist. Read the frank miller book.
also, check out the long halloween and the dark victory by tim sale if your interested. Still don’t know who batman is. Any one from the 80’s or before care to help me out on this level?
As to this article. What a waste of space, unless the bloggers are to write the article and context for dave here.
Did i kill thread? sorry, I won’t bite.
Carry on.
Milk will be helped, but The Dark Knight won’t be. After all, Batman is basically a Conservative.
Reality show-ish? Seriously Karger? Seriously? It was, as the Joker described it, a social experiment. What reality show has people choose between the deaths of themselves and another? It’s not just the principle here: the backstabbing and “voting-off-the-island” are always petty and never deal with serious, psychologically damaging consequences. Besides, the movie was quite ambiguous on human nature; after all, the White Knight of Gotham City descends into a covered-up insanse spree! Not a very good article.
The Dark Knight won’t be nominated. Getting Ledger nominated will be a feat in itself (given that its a comic movie).
Well – I can’t say I see the connection. But if the Dark Knight doesn’t see Titanic numbers, the Academy has rendered themselves irrelevant in my opinion.
While it may not get a Best Pic nod, the cast of Dark Knight deserves some recognition. Just another comic book movie. Tell that to all the Oscar noms that “comic book movie” Road to Perdition received, including one for the outstanding performance of the late, great, Paul Newman.
I agree with so many of the previous posters… Obama wins, so…. “The Dark Knight” can too… ???? Um…. no. There is, in fact, no connection there, Mr. Dave Karger.
The Dark Knight was good, but come on, it wasn’t THAT good. It amazes me how people are making it out to be the most amazing movie ever.
I can see the Oscar crowd supporting Milk over TDK as futile “payback” against voters restoring traditional marriage to California. The Oscar Awards would enjoy far higher ratings with a TDK Best Picture nod, but “Oh, well.”
Here’s the joke in all this: Hollywood caused Prop. 8 to succeed by funding Barack Obama’s campaign! Obama’s presence on the ballot caused a record turnout of Black voters, who view homosexuality as deviant behavior. So, 7 out of 10 Black Californians (liberal and conservative) voted for Prop. 8, which is now part of the state constitution.
God truly rules over all things, including irony.