If sci-fi couldn’t succeed in any of the major categories at this year’s Oscars, will the genre ever be well-represented?
Expanding the Best Picture category to ten pictures was a gamble for the Academy, especially during a year that was relatively soft on quality releases. I’m not taking anything away from The Hurt Locker’s success across multiple categories, but in a year where there were double the opportunities and only half the competition, movies of Star Trek’s calibre really should have received a nod.
In a way, it feels some entries in the Best Picture category were just there to make up the numbers – in previous years, I’d be dubious as to whether a Pixar film or a decent-but-not-astonishing Tarantino flick would get a look in. That said, these eased into the ten-category race while Star Trek, as expected, was snubbed.
So, why? Is it because it was too mainstream? Well, that can’t be the case when heavy-hitters like Avatar and District 9 occupy the ranks. Perhaps there’s just something about the name ‘Star Trek’ that isn’t Academy-friendly. Then again, that wouldn’t explain why so many other great sci-fi pictures have been neglected in the same way over the years.
