Motion Picture Academy Censors The Truth about Censorship Movies in
Oscar Nominations
by Natalie
January 15, 2016. The Academy nominations were a strong disappointment to those who had hoped two strong movies about censorship would be recognized.
Truth, the movie about the death of honest TV news journalism, perhaps the most important movie of the decade, was completely overlooked in the Oscar nominations. Hidden by the media and theaters and denied the right to buy ad time, this movie was a hit with the audiences who were able to track it down. Truth was a movie about how the quest for media consolidation caused CBS to throw its award-winning news producer Mary Mapes under the bus, along with Dan Rather. Both Cate Blanchett and Robert Redford gave Oscar quality performances in that movie. As a consolation price, Cate Blanchett received an Oscar nomination for a less powerful role in Carol
Though the media, networks and theaters tried to hide Truth, movie-goers hoped that at least Trumbo, the front-runner for the SAG Ensemble Cast Award, would scoop up the top nominations. After all, the censorship in Trumbo took place over half a century ago. Trumbo shows how Dalton Trumbo and other writers were able to defeat Joe McCarthy and the Hollywood Blacklist by writing under assumed names or letting other writers take the glory. Trumbo received two Oscars for which he was not recognized until later. This powerful movie had some of the strongest performances of any motion picture in 2015. As a consolation, Bryan Cranston (Dalton Trumbo) received a Best Actor nomination for his brilliant and convincing portrayal of Dalton Trumbo, a portrayal that had audiences crying, laughing and entranced. The Screen Actors Guild could stand up against censorship by giving the top quality performances in this movie the Ensemble Cast Award.
Also snubbed, was Concussion, which exposes the cover-up of Concussive Trauma Encephalopathy, a condition that has left many football players dead. It is also relevant in terms of domestic violence as many women have had their heads battered or smashed against walls as much as hundreds of times. But this movie is not good for the big cats profiting the game surrounding these head injuries. Like with Trumbo and Truth, movie audiences applauded what they considered a top contender for Best Picture, failing to note that the funding for the movie industry comes from Wall Street and the kind of fat cats who own football teams.
The snubbing didn't just involve movies about censorship, however. The entire African-American race was snubbed by the Academy, a noticeable omission in a time where Black Lives Matter has brought out the problem of systematic racism in America.
Of those nominated, a few other movies showed a moral conscience. Spotlight was a movie about the Boston Globe's expose of the cover-up and acquiescence of pedophilia within the Catholic Church. The cast contains some of Hollywood's top actors. Mark Ruffalo more than earned the Best Supporting Actor Award for his portrayal of Mike Rezendes. Rachel McAdams also gave a top quality performance. The events in Spotlight occurred before the crackdown on honest reporting by the networks as shown in Truth but the journalists portrayed in Spotlight still stand as an example of what reporters can do when they realize their duty to report the facts to the public.
The Big Short is also a powerful movie that addresses the corruption of the banking industry. The subject matter of the movie is especially pertinent to the current lives of Americans.
The Martian, which stars Matt Damon, captivated audiences by not-so-subtly posing the question of how far the government or the world should go to save the life of a heroic astronaut. The movie moves well, is well acted, and profoundly affects its audiences. Matt Damon, nominated for the starring role, has a long history of making relevant movies that often convey powerful messages in a way that is palatable to the average viewer. He has a large following among movie-goers and among political activists, many of whom would like to see him enter the political world.
Room deals with the subject of domestic abuse and captivity. Those who have suffered domestic violence in real life and fear for their children know that this picture, as bad as it seems, is not as hard-hitting as many real life abuse stories. To a great many protective parents across America, Room presents a false sense of hope. Room did touch on the PTSD and depression suffered by victims. It also lightly touched on the attempted re-victimization of the victims but only in context of the press and the reaction of the mother's father. As in most domestic violence cases, mothers will sacrifice themselves to protect their children but often feel almost overwhelmed with guilt for not being able to do more. In most cases, there is no real support at all and judges routinely disregard laws and best interests of the children in turning abused children back over to abusive fathers, no matter whether those abusers are convicted felons or registered child molesters. A good example is the case of Knight v Elizondo where a convicted registered child molester was granted full custody of a second little girl that he also appeared to have also molested and injured, according to witnesses. Sometimes innocent protective mothers are placed on monitored visits while abusers, torturers and child molesters are given license to to abuse their child victims any time they please. After police and doctors verified the abuse of Lexi Dillon, the alleged molester was given full custody, though he fled the country to avoid seven counts of child sexual abuse for acts he reportedly committed on Lexi. The mother Ruby Dillon, an innocent victim, was placed on monitored visits for taking the child to the doctor and the police who confirmed the abuse and now has not been allowed to see her daughter for years. The system is broken and there is no real protection for abuse victims, something not shown in Room. The acting in the movie was superb. Jacob Trmbley (the boy Jack), in particular, gave an outstanding performance but was overlooked in the nominations.
Often there is a behind the scenes decision to give the Oscar to the picture that will make the least difference. Sometimes token movies are thrown in to show that the Academy is into fantasy or perhaps mindless violence too. Mad Max, a movie with offensive all too frequent scenes of women being milked is the Academy's way of paying tribute to mindless violence as if having women women action heroes will make all the hard-to-watch scenes somehow sanitized. Cold War diplomacy is the subject of Bridge of Spies. Tom Hanks screwed over the Screen Actors Guild in 2009 by orchestrating a takeover of the Guild by producers and then making unwanted changes in the Guild. Through actors and actresses love the work, behind his back, he is not well liked by his fellow actors. The Academy always has to nominate a love story, in this case Brooklyn, a movie that touches on a number of other themes but not in such a way as to motivate audiences. The Revenant, a likely winner for Leonardo DiCaprio (to whom the Academy is still making up for stiffing him on his performance in Titanic) is much like Man in the Wilderness, a movie that was considered or maybe just seemed to be the longest and most boring movie of 1971. The Academy has a history of awarding movies that take up time but don't go anywhere and so The Revenant is likely to do well at the awards ceremony.
Here are previews for the best of the Best Picture nominees and SAG Ensemble Nominee Trumbo (youtube trailers) :
Truth, the movie about the death of honest TV news journalism, perhaps the most important movie of the decade, was completely overlooked in the Oscar nominations. Hidden by the media and theaters and denied the right to buy ad time, this movie was a hit with the audiences who were able to track it down. Truth was a movie about how the quest for media consolidation caused CBS to throw its award-winning news producer Mary Mapes under the bus, along with Dan Rather. Both Cate Blanchett and Robert Redford gave Oscar quality performances in that movie. As a consolation price, Cate Blanchett received an Oscar nomination for a less powerful role in Carol
Though the media, networks and theaters tried to hide Truth, movie-goers hoped that at least Trumbo, the front-runner for the SAG Ensemble Cast Award, would scoop up the top nominations. After all, the censorship in Trumbo took place over half a century ago. Trumbo shows how Dalton Trumbo and other writers were able to defeat Joe McCarthy and the Hollywood Blacklist by writing under assumed names or letting other writers take the glory. Trumbo received two Oscars for which he was not recognized until later. This powerful movie had some of the strongest performances of any motion picture in 2015. As a consolation, Bryan Cranston (Dalton Trumbo) received a Best Actor nomination for his brilliant and convincing portrayal of Dalton Trumbo, a portrayal that had audiences crying, laughing and entranced. The Screen Actors Guild could stand up against censorship by giving the top quality performances in this movie the Ensemble Cast Award.
Also snubbed, was Concussion, which exposes the cover-up of Concussive Trauma Encephalopathy, a condition that has left many football players dead. It is also relevant in terms of domestic violence as many women have had their heads battered or smashed against walls as much as hundreds of times. But this movie is not good for the big cats profiting the game surrounding these head injuries. Like with Trumbo and Truth, movie audiences applauded what they considered a top contender for Best Picture, failing to note that the funding for the movie industry comes from Wall Street and the kind of fat cats who own football teams.
The snubbing didn't just involve movies about censorship, however. The entire African-American race was snubbed by the Academy, a noticeable omission in a time where Black Lives Matter has brought out the problem of systematic racism in America.
Of those nominated, a few other movies showed a moral conscience. Spotlight was a movie about the Boston Globe's expose of the cover-up and acquiescence of pedophilia within the Catholic Church. The cast contains some of Hollywood's top actors. Mark Ruffalo more than earned the Best Supporting Actor Award for his portrayal of Mike Rezendes. Rachel McAdams also gave a top quality performance. The events in Spotlight occurred before the crackdown on honest reporting by the networks as shown in Truth but the journalists portrayed in Spotlight still stand as an example of what reporters can do when they realize their duty to report the facts to the public.
The Big Short is also a powerful movie that addresses the corruption of the banking industry. The subject matter of the movie is especially pertinent to the current lives of Americans.
The Martian, which stars Matt Damon, captivated audiences by not-so-subtly posing the question of how far the government or the world should go to save the life of a heroic astronaut. The movie moves well, is well acted, and profoundly affects its audiences. Matt Damon, nominated for the starring role, has a long history of making relevant movies that often convey powerful messages in a way that is palatable to the average viewer. He has a large following among movie-goers and among political activists, many of whom would like to see him enter the political world.
Room deals with the subject of domestic abuse and captivity. Those who have suffered domestic violence in real life and fear for their children know that this picture, as bad as it seems, is not as hard-hitting as many real life abuse stories. To a great many protective parents across America, Room presents a false sense of hope. Room did touch on the PTSD and depression suffered by victims. It also lightly touched on the attempted re-victimization of the victims but only in context of the press and the reaction of the mother's father. As in most domestic violence cases, mothers will sacrifice themselves to protect their children but often feel almost overwhelmed with guilt for not being able to do more. In most cases, there is no real support at all and judges routinely disregard laws and best interests of the children in turning abused children back over to abusive fathers, no matter whether those abusers are convicted felons or registered child molesters. A good example is the case of Knight v Elizondo where a convicted registered child molester was granted full custody of a second little girl that he also appeared to have also molested and injured, according to witnesses. Sometimes innocent protective mothers are placed on monitored visits while abusers, torturers and child molesters are given license to to abuse their child victims any time they please. After police and doctors verified the abuse of Lexi Dillon, the alleged molester was given full custody, though he fled the country to avoid seven counts of child sexual abuse for acts he reportedly committed on Lexi. The mother Ruby Dillon, an innocent victim, was placed on monitored visits for taking the child to the doctor and the police who confirmed the abuse and now has not been allowed to see her daughter for years. The system is broken and there is no real protection for abuse victims, something not shown in Room. The acting in the movie was superb. Jacob Trmbley (the boy Jack), in particular, gave an outstanding performance but was overlooked in the nominations.
Often there is a behind the scenes decision to give the Oscar to the picture that will make the least difference. Sometimes token movies are thrown in to show that the Academy is into fantasy or perhaps mindless violence too. Mad Max, a movie with offensive all too frequent scenes of women being milked is the Academy's way of paying tribute to mindless violence as if having women women action heroes will make all the hard-to-watch scenes somehow sanitized. Cold War diplomacy is the subject of Bridge of Spies. Tom Hanks screwed over the Screen Actors Guild in 2009 by orchestrating a takeover of the Guild by producers and then making unwanted changes in the Guild. Through actors and actresses love the work, behind his back, he is not well liked by his fellow actors. The Academy always has to nominate a love story, in this case Brooklyn, a movie that touches on a number of other themes but not in such a way as to motivate audiences. The Revenant, a likely winner for Leonardo DiCaprio (to whom the Academy is still making up for stiffing him on his performance in Titanic) is much like Man in the Wilderness, a movie that was considered or maybe just seemed to be the longest and most boring movie of 1971. The Academy has a history of awarding movies that take up time but don't go anywhere and so The Revenant is likely to do well at the awards ceremony.
Here are previews for the best of the Best Picture nominees and SAG Ensemble Nominee Trumbo (youtube trailers) :