Oscars, why no comedy?

Nigel Britto

As he grows older, Uncle Oscar seems to be losing his sense of humour. The Oscar nominations are rarely easy to agree with. Most of the time, the Academy voters seem rather clumsy and biased. The 2009 Oscars exemplified it perfectly, when they left Dark Knight and Wall-E out of the Best Picture race. The following year, they partially redeemed themselves: nominating District 9 and the animated Up were rather unique choices. 

This year, the AMPAS is back to their conservative best. Perhaps realising that pickings were slim this year, the Academy evidently stuck with the same list of films that have been recognised and applauded by all and sundry over the last few months. Black Swan leads the nominations with 12, but will the Academy 'like' the Facebook film better? 

Whatever the decision, this year's nominations have continued a long tradition that has confounded fans for decades: Why does the Academy persistently refuse to honour comedies? The last time a pure comedy won the Best Picture Oscar was when Annie Hall got the award in 1977. Before that, it was It Happened One Night in 1934. To be fair, the Academy off-and-on does nominate comic performances, but chances of winning are virtually zilch. Charlie Chaplin, perhaps the greatest comedic genius of all time, probably deserved an Oscar for every category imaginable, but he never won an Oscar for his directing or acting, and only in retrospect was he given some special awards, also known as the 'sorry we didn't think you were so good' awards. Even when Uncle Oscar was younger, his sense of humour was Tr. In the 1930s, some comedies did win Best Picture Oscars, but the era's true masters, Laurel and Hardy and The Marx Brothers, were ignored. In the 50s, he ignored the ageless Marilyn Monroe-starrer Some Like It Hot, and till the '70s, only three more films were accoladed. Since then, the funniest Best Picture statuettes have gone to slightly funny films like Driving Miss Daisy (1990) and Shakespeare in Love (1998) which are hardly laugh-out-loud creations. The ones which occasionally pick nominations are amusing, dramatic films, but none that would throw people in guffaws. 

The trend could have been changed in 2009, a generally depressing year because of the recession. But no, the AMPAS refused to budge. Of course, there is no Oscar for Best Comedy (" What do you think we are, the Golden Globes?" is the famous argument). Hence, in the recent past, films like the outrageous Borat and the ridiculously funny Hangover, both obviously not made to impress the purist but with the sole intention of making people laugh, have had to remain outside Uncle Oscar's radar. Although over the years the need for a Best Comedy Oscar is pretty evident, the ageing guru insists on keeping his focus on feel-good fare with rather morose and largely solitary and lovelorn characters (think Slumdog Millionaire). 

In a world that's increasingly getting filled with death and destruction, there's no time like the present for introducing a Best Comedy Oscar. Agreed, it's a lesser art form - one US commentator described it as being like the girl you sleep with but never want to marry - and it's a medically proven fact that everybody needs a good laugh, so why not appreciate the power of humour and tell some director, "Ok, dude, that was bloody hilarious. Here's your Oscar" ? The Animation people got their own category in 2001, so the Academy is open to new categories;and unless it does so and starts this long-overdue category, it will be the Oscar agnostics who will continue to have the last laugh.

This article was first published in The Times of India's Crest edition on February 26, 2011.