Has The Shape of Water smashed the Oscars glass ceiling for fantasy and horror cinema?
Ever since 2009, when the Academy expanded the number of best picture nominees from five to 10 following the failure of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight to register with voters the previous year, the Oscars has been waiting for a breakout genre movie. Now, suddenly, it has two: Guillermo del Toro’s whimsical period-fantasy The Shape of Water, which took best picture, and Jordan Peele’s satirical horror Get Out, which picked up best original screenplay.
You might even argue that Frances McDormand’s tour de force performance as a grieving mother in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri should also count towards the genre movie’s trophy count, so heavily does the Coen brothers alumnus channel that titan of the western John Wayne. And then there is Roger Deakins’ belated honour in the best cinematography category for his outstanding work on the otherwise largely overlooked Blade Runner 2049.
Oscars voters seem to be looking more sympathetically at the work of genre film-makers than at any time since 2004, when Peter Jackson was garlanded with the best-picture prize for the final instalment in his epic Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Return of the King. So should we be preparing for a new era of sci-fi and fantasy awards season success? The short answer is: probably not. Apart from anything else, both The Shape of Water and Get Out bear little resemblance to the kind of genre movies that are regularly finding their way into multiplexes.
Del Toro’s film reminded me of Steven Spielberg’s ET in its evocation of childlike wonder at the infinite possibilities of the universe, its abiding certainty that humans are not the only creatures capable of complex emotions. But Spielberg no longer has time for the optimistic, open-minded science fiction of the 70s and 80s. His next futuristic opus is the virtual reality tale Ready Player One, a pop culture take on the digital wonderland imagined in the Matrix movies, as if Alice had fallen down the rabbit hole and landed in Toys R Us.
You might even argue that Frances McDormand’s tour de force performance as a grieving mother in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri should also count towards the genre movie’s trophy count, so heavily does the Coen brothers alumnus channel that titan of the western John Wayne. And then there is Roger Deakins’ belated honour in the best cinematography category for his outstanding work on the otherwise largely overlooked Blade Runner 2049.
Oscars voters seem to be looking more sympathetically at the work of genre film-makers than at any time since 2004, when Peter Jackson was garlanded with the best-picture prize for the final instalment in his epic Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Return of the King. So should we be preparing for a new era of sci-fi and fantasy awards season success? The short answer is: probably not. Apart from anything else, both The Shape of Water and Get Out bear little resemblance to the kind of genre movies that are regularly finding their way into multiplexes.
Del Toro’s film reminded me of Steven Spielberg’s ET in its evocation of childlike wonder at the infinite possibilities of the universe, its abiding certainty that humans are not the only creatures capable of complex emotions. But Spielberg no longer has time for the optimistic, open-minded science fiction of the 70s and 80s. His next futuristic opus is the virtual reality tale Ready Player One, a pop culture take on the digital wonderland imagined in the Matrix movies, as if Alice had fallen down the rabbit hole and landed in Toys R Us.
Source:
theguardian
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