The One Where They Do It on a Bus, The One Where They Do It in Jail

snovellasimpson: Did you see the comment Anna left on your Oscars piece?
seliseburns: No. I'll look.
Anna: Being the dork that I am, I had to check to see when was the last time that a comedy won Best Picture. Most recently we had Chicago (2001), Forrest Gump (1994), and Shakespeare in Love (1998).
But on another note, it appears that our tastes seemed to get more violent in the 1990s. Silence of the Lambs, Braveheart, Unforgiven. What’s that about?
Sam & Steph, please discuss. (www.filmsite.org/oscars.html)
seliseburns: Interesting question.
seliseburns: This site calls American Beauty a comedy.
seliseburns: I mean, I guess. Sort of.
snovellasimpson: Really? I was not amused.
seliseburns: Heh. I would call it a dramedy, if anything.
snovellasimpson: If that.
seliseburns: It Happened One Night cleaned up at the Oscars in 1934. As it should.
snovellasimpson: Yeah, grand slam. I'm so proud of that--like I made the movie or something.
seliseburns: Heh. Rebecca won. And Casablanca.
snovellasimpson: Of course.
seliseburns: This site seems to think that The Wizard of Oz should have won over Gone with the Wind.
snovellasimpson: See, I'm a little torn on that. I love both of those movies very, very much. The former is so imaginative with the black and white to color shot--wow. And the other is freakin' Gone with the Wind.
seliseburns: I know what you mean. An American in Paris beat out both A Streetcar Named Desire and A Place in the Sun.
snovellasimpson: A Place in the Sun?
seliseburns: Ben-Hur robbed Some Like It Hot.
snovellasimpson: And kicked it! Ew.
seliseburns: Heh. They mention that A Hard Day's Night wasn't nominated for an Oscar. Like it would be.
snovellasimpson: Say what?
seliseburns: They have this whole section in the grid on what wasn't nominated that year. And A Hard Day's Night is in it.
seliseburns: Annie Hall shut out Star Wars. I know you're pleased.
snovellasimpson: Damn right. Annie Hall is better than Match Point.
seliseburns: No kidding.
seliseburns: Um, these people seem to think that Field of Dreams should have won an Oscar. I think their heads need examination.
snovellasimpson: Field of Dreams? Is that the "If you build it, they will come... because everyone likes cheese" movie?
seliseburns: Heh. Yes.
snovellasimpson: I haven't seen it. But it is about baseball (and cheese), so I don't know that I will.
seliseburns: Big cheese.
snovellasimpson: Weak.
seliseburns: Oh damn. Guess what got beat out by It Happened One Night in 1934.
snovellasimpson: What?
seliseburns: The Thin Man.
snovellasimpson: ...it was for the best, Stephanie. I'm sorry.
seliseburns: It's okay. They're both incredible films.
snovellasimpson: The 1930s were a good time for Hollywood.
seliseburns: Totally. I think most of my favorite old movies come from the 30s.
snovellasimpson: I wonder what ticket sales were like then--what with the Depression and everything.
seliseburns: Well, I know Shirley Temple sold tickets. Other than that, no clue. But I think that me liking the 30s might also have to do with the fact that the screwball comedy genre was in full swing. And I think it got toned down as things went on.
snovellasimpson: And that's a shame.
seliseburns: Yeah. And, as much as I love smolder-y Cary Grant, I get really sad that he couldn't continue to be like he was in Bringing Up Baby.
snovellasimpson: So, would you say that comedy is in a bad way right now?
seliseburns: Hmmm. Hard to say. I mean, there are a lot of movies that I love and that I watch and laugh my ass off. But, within the genre of comedy, I think that some subgenres have been lost or enveloped. I mean, the screwball comedy romance. You don't see that in pure form anymore.
seliseburns: Remember that episode of Buffy where she and Riley start dating? It's more charming than your usual Riley episode because it is structured as a screwball comedy romance.
seliseburns: And there's not as much clever wordplay as there was in the 30s. For instance, The Philadelphia Story is so quotable and hilarious. There's a lot of stand-up comedy in the movies now.
snovellasimpson: Stand-up comedy?
seliseburns: There are also a lot of commerical movies made to rely on the schtick of a particular performer, like Adam Sandler. For stand-up comedy--When Harry Met Sally.
snovellasimpson: I see. True.
seliseburns: Their banter is largely composed of Billy Crystal following a train of thought to its mundane but hilarious end.
snovellasimpson: I don't think I've seen When Harry... in its entirety.
seliseburns: It's good. Funny. But a bit cheesy. I think Woody Allen and Seinfeld have a lot to do with the popularity of that particular sub-genre.
snovellasimpson: It's funny, but it's problematic, I think.
seliseburns: Yeah. Then there's these hyper-real comedies with wacky characters.
seliseburns: A la Zoolander.
snovellasimpson: Example?
snovellasimpson: Ah, Zoolander.
seliseburns: Josie and the Pussycats.
snovellasimpson: I like those.
seliseburns: Me too. Dodgeball.
snovellasimpson: Frat-pack movies.
seliseburns: Yeah.
snovellasimpson: What do you think of their lasting power?
seliseburns: I don't know. I mean, how many people go back and watch Adam Sandler movies from 10 years ago? On the other hand, I think Dodgeball is better than any Adam Sandler movie.
seliseburns: I don't know. But they do have that disposability of summer blockbusters.
snovellasimpson: Yeah. I really enjoyed Josie and the Pussycats--but I think my grandchildren will be like, "...what?"
seliseburns: Yeah. The jokes are so current, they are outdated almost immediately upon hitting the screen.
snovellasimpson: And that's a shame. I think Zoolander will be fine in the future.
seliseburns: Yeah. I think it and Dodgeball have a better chance simply because the jokes are based on the wackiness of characters and a general mockery of an industry rather than being topical or about current pop culture.
seliseburns: Now, romcoms are in a particularly sad place right now, I think.
snovellasimpson: Dear God yes. Must Love Dogs? Really?
seliseburns: They've watered down that screwball formula to the point of ridiculousness.
snovellasimpson: I think part of it is an issue with gender. I think studios can be hyper-aware of how complicated feminism has made the romance.
seliseburns: Yeah. I can see that. And marriage is no longer the cure-all end of the movie that it used to be. It's a cultural change, I guess.
snovellasimpson: And it's funny, too, because the female leads in movies like Bringing Up Baby and It Happened One Night aren't that pressed about it. They seem more self-actualized than someone like Debra Messing's character in that Wedding Date mess.
seliseburns: Yeah. That may also be due to the rise of popular psychology and its application to movies. Characters have to have easily decipherable motives now, whereas Katherine Hepburn's Susan can just take a shine to Cary Grant's David one day and start doing these compulsive things to keep him around. No problem.
snovellasimpson: It's simple, and it makes sense. Clark Gable wants a story. Claudette Colbert wants to get to her fiance. Just add bus.
seliseburns: Exactly. But with modern romances, everyone has a neurosis. Again, Woody Allen's fault, I think. We've gone from Claudette Colbert's character to Ally McBeal.
snovellasimpson: And that's totally weak. Because Ally McBeal hardly qualifies as a real human being.
seliseburns: Yeah. It's the danger of over-analysis.
snovellasimpson: So, how do we cure it?
seliseburns: I think another problem is that people in romcoms never seem to actually do anything anymore. I mean, look at the two movies we've been talking about. There's a lot of action, if not precisely the kind you would find in an action movie. Whereas, in modern romcoms, there seems to be just a series of random meetings that either progress or complicate the relationship.
snovellasimpson: And the sex.
seliseburns: Yeah.
seliseburns: I guess that whole nothing happening thing is a result of trying to capitalize on the whole living vicariously thing. The more they make the plot like something that could happen to the average woman, the more tickets they can sell.
snovellasimpson: That's clearly not true.
seliseburns: Okay. Prove me wrong.
snovellasimpson: No, the sales aren't happening, is what I'm saying.
seliseburns: Oh. I see. Yeah. A better quality product would sell better. Also, I think there's a certain amount of distaste for the genre and being associated with it that prevents a lot of them from being financially successful.
snovellasimpson: Rom-coms are aimed at women like heat-seeking missiles. Problem is, they underestimate women's intelligence.
seliseburns: Yeah.
snovellasimpson: And our anxiety about marriage.
seliseburns: Yeah. But, I think a lot of the genre's problems could be solved by just having a bit more go on in them. And not diluting them as much with drama infusions.
seliseburns: The action-comedy-romance is great. Romancing the Stone. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a noir-action-comedy-romance.
snovellasimpson: No voiceover, no suicide.
seliseburns: What do you mean?
snovellasimpson: Those things tend to weight a movie down. Make it all dramedic.
seliseburns: Yeah. Except that the voice-over in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang had the opposite effect. But, in general, that's true.
snovellasimpson: Especially when you have a death-voiceover combo. I mean, shut UP, American Beauty.

Okay, so our rambling conversation did not, in fact, answer Anna's actual question. So, I'll take a quick stab. I think that the Academy in particular and the American public in general are no more or less fond of violence than they've ever been. I do think, however, you can see the rise of more violent films winning awards from the 1970s. For one thing, in 1966, they rewrote the Hays code and such a thing as the film "intended for mature audiences" came into being. Then, the art house Italian Neorealism films began to have an effect on American movies.

There's always a difference between the truly groundbreaking film and the faux-prestigious film that apes the characteristics of the groundbreaking film. So, I think that, in the wake of some very good and incidentally violent films, graphic violence actually became a stand-in for good. Which is not to say that a decent argument couldn't be made for the legitimacy of every choice that the Academy has made. I just think that sometimes the Academy would rather perceive itself as edgy and progressive rather than actually considering all the merits of the film. Anyway, I hope this has some relation to the type of answer you were hoping for Anna!