In the past, sports fans have had some great films to cheer for on Oscars Sunday. Million Dollar Baby, Jerry McGuire and last year's Best Documentary winner Undefeated all come to mind. This year, there's not much. Silver Linings Playbook centers around a forced connection between a dance competition and the Philadelphia Eagles. Buzkashi Boys, nominated for Live Action Short Film, features a polo match in the main story line. Other than that, you've got to dig really deep to find sports in any of the nominated films.
Heck, this year's Oscars is rather void of gay storylines as well. While there seemed to be more and more acclaim for gay characters and films in the last few years, this year there's virtually nothing. How To Survive A Plague is about the battle against AIDS, which certainly played a part in LGBT history. There were a boatload of bad gay jokes in Ted (nominated for Best Original Song). But as far as I know, that's about it. And I refuse to count Lincoln as a gay film, despite the cries of many that he was gay.
In the past, sports fans have had some great films to cheer for on Oscars Sunday. Million Dollar Baby, Jerry McGuire and last year's Best Documentary winner Undefeated all come to mind. This year, there's not much. Silver Linings Playbook centers around a forced connection between a dance competition and the Philadelphia Eagles. Buzkashi Boys, nominated for Live Action Short Film, features a polo match in the main story line. Other than that, you've got to dig really deep to find sports in any of the nominated films.
Heck, this year's Oscars is rather void of gay storylines as well. While there seemed to be more and more acclaim for gay characters and films in the last few years, this year there's virtually nothing. How To Survive A Plague is about the battle against AIDS, which certainly played a part in LGBT history. There were a boatload of bad gay jokes in Ted (nominated for Best Original Song). But as far as I know, that's about it. And I refuse to count Lincoln as a gay film, despite the cries of many that he was gay.
I look forward to the day when we see a nominated film that meets both the sports and gay criteria. Paranorman gets the closest this year with a gay-jock character (it’s nominated for Best Animated Feature Film). Until then, I’ll still be sulking that The Dark Knight Rises wasn’t nominated for Best Picture… or a single Oscar. Hollywood at its worst.