the biggest oscar failure

As bombastic, pretentious, grandiose, and obnoxious as the Acadamy Awards usually are, I still find myself watching the ceremony, from start to finish, every year. In anticipation of this year’s awards, Grantland recently unveiled an Oscar Travesties bracket, a March Madness–like layout that pits seeded failures against each other (e.g., thirteen nominations for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button against Spike Lee never winning an Oscar). Facebook users then voted on the biggest travesty. It might be a small victory in the grand scheme of things, but it’s good to know there is an army of people behind Stanley Kubrick. The fact that one of the most visionary directors in the last 100 years never won for directing is enough to debunk the grandeur and excellence that the Academy supposedly stands for. Kubrick should’ve racked up at least three. I’m also glad that other travesties—like John Cazale never being nominated, The Social Network losing to The Kings Speech, Crash winning Best Picture, and others—got recognition as well. (I do think, however, that The Shawshank Redemption not winning a single Oscar would’ve been a better choice for a category than Forrest Gump beating it and Pulp Fiction, but whatever.) There will no doubt be some more letdowns this year. And, for whatever reason, I’ll still watch it.