Are Oscars tone-deaf?
Share with others:
They say there's no accounting for taste. But by Oscar standards, you have to rate an 8.25 out of 10 just to land a Best Original Song nomination.
That's how they ended up with a mere two nominated songs in this year's Academy Award voting and both are of the children's variety: Flight of the Conchords' Brett McKenzie for "Man or Muppet" ("The Muppets") and The Rio Singers for "Real in Rio" ("Rio").
The eligible artists/songs that were passed over include:
• Elton John/Lady Gaga ("Hello Hello" from "Gnomeo & Juliet").
• Elvis Costello ("Sparkling Day" from "One Day").
• Willie Nelson ("Hell and Back" by J. Ralph from "Hell and Back Again").
• Chris Cornell ("The Keeper" from "Machine Gun Preacher").
• Mary J. Blige ("Living Proof" from "The Help").
• Zooey Deschanel ("So Long" from "Winnie the Pooh").
• Brad Paisley ("Collision of Worlds" from "Cars 2").
• Zac Brown Band ("Where the River Goes" from "Footloose").
• will.i.am ("Hot Wings" from "Rio").
Needless to say, a few of those folks performing on Oscar night would liven up an annually dull ceremony.
But more to the point, when there are 39 songs eligible from major artists -- ones as good as "The Keeper" and "Hell and Back" -- and only two nominees, something just might be wrong with the system. This isn't the first time songs have been notably snubbed. In 2008, Eddie Vedder won the Golden Globe for "Guaranteed" from "Into the Wild" but wasn't one of the two Oscar songs nominated. A year later, there were two songs from "Slumdog Millionaire," but no love for Bruce Springsteen's "The Wrestler."
Perhaps 8.25 is too high, especially given the divisiveness of musical genres. You can picture someone saying "Well, I hate country" and slapping a "2" on Willie Nelson or Zac Brown, thus requiring a handful of 10s to offset it.
If "Citizen Kane" and "The Godfather" are 10s, how many of the nominated movies would rank an 8.25?
Safe to say there wouldn't be nine.
First Published January 25, 2012 12:00 am
