Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

More particularly, so many of these films are about wars that governments fight: Wars with other governments (Argo), Wars against terror (Zero Dark Thirty), Wars versus itself (Lincoln), Wars against the poor (Les Mis, Beasts...), Wars against a certain race (Django)

One other theme is how powerfully these films seems to reflect the debates and events going on in our own society these days: Argo and Zero Dark Thirty both deal with America's relations with Islamist nations/groups, Lincoln plays off of Obama's obsession with Lincoln and with the ascension of the first black president 150 years later, Django Unchained and Beasts of the Southern Wild also reflects this country's discussion about race, Les Miserables and Beasts of the Southern Wild reflect the country's discussion of poverty, Beasts of the Southern Wild's hurricane theme seems hauntingly similar to the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy and Silver Linings Playbook looks at our relationship with mental illness that has been much discussed post-Sandy Hook. I haven't seen Amour, but on a day (two months after I buried one grandmother) where my family started discussions about putting my other grandmother in hospice, it certainly seems relevant.

Sabin wrote:Last year's theme was nostalgia, that's for sure.

Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty...

I see a theme about struggling with and against the system. The individual vs. the system. Being an underdog.

I don't see how Amour fits into that, but the rest of them do.

Amour struggles against the process of aging and the inevitability of death.

Last year's theme was nostalgia, that's for sure.

Argo, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Miserables, Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Zero Dark Thirty...

I see a theme about struggling with and against the system. The individual vs. the system. Being an underdog.

I don't see how Amour fits into that, but the rest of them do.

Some Oscar years it is not too hard to find a theme regarding at least a substantial portion of the nominated films. In 2010, it was stories about actual people, at least with The King's Speech, The Social Network, and The Fighter. In 1997, the year of Titanic, all the nominated films dealt with socioeconomic class struggles. I cannot think of any theme for this year. Any ideas?