And, last night, Disney won big:
First, "Feast" won Best Animated Short Film:
(c) Disney
Full disclosure: I have loved this short since I first saw the teaser for it. I mean, it's an adorable puppy and food -- these are a few of my favorite things. (Sidebar: Lady Gaga killed her homage to The Sound of Music. At first, I was all, "But Lady Gaga! As awesome as you are, this is Dame Julie Andrews' territory." And then literally 5 seconds later, I ate my humble pie. She was amazing. And then Dame Julie walked out, and they hugged, and there were tears on screen, and there were tears at home and...yeah.)
And then Disney won Best Animated Feature for Big Hero 6:
Which, I admit, I have not seen yet. It's on the list though -- maybe, if we get the snow that The Weather Channel is predicting Winter Storm Quantum will bring us, we'll have a Snow Day Movie Night.
What's interesting to me is that, as Mae Anderson over at Yahoo points out, "[n]either film is connected to [Disney's] Pixar unit." Anderson also notes that, since Disney acquired Pixar in 2006, "the Disney Pixar combo had scooped up most animated feature Oscars," but I tend to think that a lot of that is Pixar's influence on Disney Animated films.
[Sidebar #2: I'm not entirely sure that's fair. I probably -- unfairly? -- stereotype each animation studio in my mind: to me, Disney is the princess films and Pixar is more of a boy's club. (Purely animation--this is leaving out Marvel, Pirates, etc.) Disney tends to be more traditional, more heteronormative, more adapted stories; Pixar tends to be (theoretically) a little more progressive and a little more original. Again, I don't know if this is entirely fair, but films like Brave and Frozen seem to best represent the convergence of the two studios. Both are "princess stories" but are markedly different from earlier, Disney films like Tangled and The Princess and the Frog.]
I remember being very disgruntled two years ago -- during the 2013 Oscars when both Brave and Wreck-It Ralph were competing for Best Animated Feature. The Oscar ultimately went to Brave, a Pixar film. But I saw both films -- and I thought Wreck-It Ralph was far superior. While I appreciate what Brave did for the "princess story" genre, shifting the focus to a mother-daughter relationship and giving us a "normal" nuclear family, as well as emphasizing the importance of "being true to yourself," Wreck-It Ralph was witty, funny, inventive and innovative. Perhaps I'm missing an animation dynamic that the Academy takes into account, but, based on story alone, I maintain that Wreck-It Ralph was the superior film. It was equally heart-warming, equally empowering, and perhaps universally more appealing. After all, Vanellope is technically a Disney princess -- but not one as marketable as Merida. And, maybe, with all the Oscar campaigning that goes on, that's what it came down to.
But it got me thinking. Because even though I haven't seen Big Hero 6 yet, I have seen The Lego Movie -- which wasn't even nominated. But Box Trolls was....? (Granted, I haven't seen that one either. But nothing about that story appealed to me.)
What's interesting to me is that both The Lego Movie and Wreck-It Ralph have a nostalgic component to them: the former strongly appeals to children who grew up playing with Legos and the latter similarly appeals to children who grew up with those "classic" video games. But both were passed over in favor of more traditional, animated fare.
Which, in turn, got me thinking about the other nominees. I'm not sure anyone -- especially me -- would question Disney's skill at both animation and storytelling. They excel in both areas. But is The Academy plagued by similar issues as The Emmys? There was a lot of backlash this past year over the "same old" winners winning -- e.g. Jim Parsons for Best Actor in a Comedy or Modern Family for Best Comedy. I love Jim Parsons, and think he deserves every accolade he earns. But to win year after year and not recognize anyone else with a win -- or even nominate a greater variety -- can be indicative of a damaging stasis.
Sidebar #3: That's why I think the Golden Globes can be so great. The Hollywood Foreign Press may have their own patterns, but they seem to be a little bit bolder. Case in Point: Gina Rodriguez's win for Jane The Virgin, a show which airs on The CW. (Let's see if she gets nominated come Emmy season.)
I'll freely admit I haven't seen the other Animated Short or Feature nominees. But is Disney the Modern Family of the Oscar Animation Categories? Are we honoring Disney just because they're Disney? Not something I have a definitive answer for...just something I thought about this morning on the way to work. Food for thought...
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