Using the Crash vs Brokeback example, the reason I'm inclined to side against Crash (and in the A Beautiful Mind vs the rest against the Howard film) is because of the majority required. I'm not saying that the main opposing contender would've won, but hell, using this board as an example, each film seemed to have an ardent defender (Brokeback Mountain had Penelope, Good Night and Good Luck had Damien and I believe you, Mister Tee; Munich had myself, Eric and dws) and I'm pretty sure a majority of those films individual admirers would support the other two first (not always, of course. If I recall, Damien had Crash third of the best picture nominees, and dws ranked Brokeback Mountain and Crash about the same, with Capote at the rear). I don't know what would've won, but I doubt it would be Crash, and that is a good thing. On the other hand, I doubt Annie Hall would've won, and I can see you cringing at that thought.
Anyway, to answer the actual question....
Firstly, I should state that I am in no way endorsing Kris Tapley's Survivor/American Idol suggestion, for both practical (really, how long would it be between nominations and the actual awards) and ideological (it's stupid). Secondly, my history with the oscars is obviously shorter than yours. In fact, I'm entirely confident that my history with the internet is longer (first email account? Summer of 1996. First Oscar show? The Titanic year, though I did watch part of The English Patient oscars). So obviously, I don't hold the oscars as sacred to the extent that you do. Additionally, the “demystification” of the oscars, as has happened with the popularity of year round oscar predictions, the internet making buzz for films accumulate much more rapidly then ever before (and dissipate as the next big thing becomes more important), happened concurrently with my engagement with the oscars.
The Dark Knight had interesting elements, was near the top end of its genre, but at heart it was a dressed-up comic book movie – and, please let’s not forget, the (at least) fifth film in a series. I don’t want voters to abandon their long-time preference for grown-up films – and original work -- just because studios make all their money on endlessly recycling the comic book genre (or because journalists goad Academy folk to vote for them to prove their hipsterism).
I guess the big thing here is I'm not sure why The Dark Knight, for it's shortcomings, can't be considered a grown-up film. Or more specifically, why The Reader or Finding Neverland or Crash or Babel or The Departed or Michael Clayton are. I don't know why being the sixth Batman film matters (which leads me to believe I might be part of the group you feel against). I'm not sure why 'comic book' is perjorative to you the same way 'holocaust' is perjorative for oscar cynics. Or I guess I do understand, but don't think it's fair (but simulatenously don't want to be lumped in with those people who emailed critics who didn't like The Dark Knight). I don't see why I should feel childish for having my comic books on the same shelf as my Alice Munro or Tom Stoppard. And it's worth mentioning that those same journalists were goading the Academy folk to nominate WALL.E, and it didn't get nominated because of similar dismissals (animation is just for kids, etc)
That said, to me, the most noteworthy snub this decade won't be the The Dark Knight debacle (a film I really enjoyed and would've liked to see nominated above four of the eventual nominees, but not one that made my own top five/ten). It'll be the foreign film line-up of 2007/08. Remember? When they ignored virtually every film that got raves/awards at Cannes? Nothing for Persepolis, 4 months.., The Edge of Heaven, Silent Light AND Secret Sunshine? None of these even made the semfinal round. To me, the academy's response was startlingly swift – it's not like they hadn't made blunders before – City of God was snubbed way back in 2002 (though of course that proved to be a boon more than a blunder for the film). They were gonna set up a “blue ribbon panel” of sorts that would add three films to the top six vote getters, and the three films were gonna be from the festival circuit that achieved a degree of acclaim. I'm willing to wager that that helped Waltz With Bashir and Revanche get into the semi-final nine last year. To me, this is more than just the general monkeying around the foreign film category has undergone (removing the “official language” requirement as a result of Cache, setting up the “semi-final” panel) but almost an admission of wrong-doing. They knew they screwed up and had done so somewhat deeply. Indeed, while the maneuver basically took some power away from the voters, it didn't do so entirely.
The films AMPAS want to nominate are deemed unpopular by a disinterested public and the complicit media. They haven't yet figured out how to handle the shift to DVD as a primary source of a film's viewing, which I think is important (we're seeing more films appear on IFC on Demand concurrent with their theatrical runs, which means no oscar nominations for films that previously would've been writing/acting candidates – In the Loop, Summer Hours, Still Walking – and IFC has emerged as the distributor that's quite attractive to independent producers; along with Sony Pictures Classics). Additionally, with more and more adults electing to bypass opening weekends in favour of watching it on the big screen television without the annoying kids, these films struggle even further to find an audience. The internet of course allows people to find and view films at their own pace (I won't say which ones).
And I can't help but think that the perception of stodgy cronyism hurts them just as much. Why do you (does one) watch the oscars. For me, I watch because I like the idea of celebrating the best in film – and it's the celebratory aspect I enjoy. That's why I enjoyed the 08/Slumdog oscars so much – the fact that it felt like a genuine celebration of films (the process, the history, the nominees). I actually skipped watching the 2006/2007 oscars because Crash won the previous year. I don't watch the Grammys simply because the music I listen to isn't what they honor. And it's becoming the same way with the oscars, and I don't consider myself in Eric-land yet, where my films are never gonna become oscar favourites (I'm trying, though). But not only are they starting to ignore my favourite mainstream entries (A History of Violence, Children of Men, WALL.E), they honor films I out-and-out loathe (The Reader, Crash).
But AMPAS has acknowledged (twice) that they can't really trust their voters to select the right films, even when the choices are obvious (and yes, I think The Dark Knight was an obvious choice). But if they can't appeal to the masses, because the masses are idiots, and the intelligensia views them with disdain, and the intelligent mainstream (which you've cast yourself as in the past) don't generally find the films they love nominated in the big categories (I remember you saying that you've had bad luck with your favourite film somehow tripping out by oscars: About Schmidt, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Ice Storm, and more but my memory is hazy), what's left besides nostalgia? And for those of us without nostalgia, all we can hope for is a good show.
Edited By Okri on 1252202824