I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with the Academy, as many people often do. Usually, they tend to make decent decisions. They may not always choose the best in a given category, but they usually at least choose a decent representation for it. Of course, there are times when they are completely right on the nose (Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia, Schindler’s List, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, etc.), but on the flip side, there are also moments where you have to question whether or not they’ve really seen all of the nominees.
Then again, there are also those that don’t take the Oscars all that seriously, thinking of it as more of a popularity contest with the Academy choosing what’s “hot” rather than the actual best nominee in a category (did anyone REALLY think Argo was the best film of 2012?). However, even as a popularity contest, some of their decisions have to be called out and examined, and so, in honor of the fast-approaching 86th Annual Academy Awards, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at some of the biggest mistakes they’ve made throughout their history.
Without further ado, let’s dive right in…