Best Original Musical
What it means: This one is actually an outlier because the Best Original Musical award still technically exists – it just hasn’t been given out since 1984, when Prince’s Purple Rain made the cut (when the category still had the name Best Original Song Score). Now, of course this is a very specific category: to be eligible, a film must have at least five original songs from the same team of writers; what’s more, the songs have to further the plot.
Films based on Broadway musicals, or films (like those of Baz Luhrmann) that incorporate pop songs would not be eligible. Hence: there has not been sufficient eligibility to justify a rewarding of this category since 1984.
Why have it: Really, I just want to see more original film musicals. That being said, there’s no reason why animated films like Frozen or The LEGO Movie, or live-action foreign features like 8 Women or Dancer in the Dark couldn’t be placed in this category. What’s more, making a push for an inclusion of these films might inspire the powers-that-be to start producing some quality film musicals again. Win/win.
Published: Feb 11, 2015 04:36 pm