Será cedo demais para começar a falar de Óscares?

São raros os artigos de opinião que conseguem unir lucidez e coragem. O caso mais recente e totalmente infundido dessa qualidade com que me deparei recentemente é autorado por Noah Forrest e está publicado no site Movie City News.

Sob o título «Changes That Would Actually Make the Oscars Better» (numa tradução livre, 'Mudanças Que Realmente Poderiam Melhorar os Óscares'), Forrest enuncia seis argumentos que, na sua opinião, constituiriam um interessante "lavar de cara" da cerimónia mais mediática da Sétima Arte. Totalmente discutíveis, são, contudo, pontos de vista bem fundamentados e merecedores de reflexão:

1. Aumentar a duração da cerimónia:

"If you’re tuning into the Oscars, you are already expecting that the show is going to be a bit long, so get over it. The Academy shouldn’t be trying to cater to those curmudgeons who want a shorter show. It’s important to recognize who the audience is for this show".

2. Regressar à regra das cinco nomeações para Melhor Filme:

"The award for Best Picture should be an honor. Ignore the fact that so many unworthy films have won or been nominated or that the nomination slots are often bought by savvy marketers and PR folks; being nominated for an Academy Award is supposed to be special. (...) I would recommend to the Academy that if they want to be taken as a serious arbiter of what is the year’s best in film, it might be a good idea to be somewhat elitist".

3. Permitir que um/uma actor/actriz concorra na mesma categoria:

"An actor cannot be nominated in the same category twice in the same year. This has led to actors campaigning for two lead performances in two separate categories so that occasionally we get a person nominated for a supporting performance when they were the lead in that film. But more importantly, sometimes this leads to the exclusions of wonderful performances because the Academy has had to choose between an actor’s two disparate but equally brilliant performances".

4. Banir totalmente o Óscar de Melhor Canção:

"Every once in a while there is a song that is integral to a film’s success and legacy (“Gonna Fly Now” from Rocky or “Lose Yourself” from 8 Mile or “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head” from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid), but how many people remember what the Best Song was from a few years ago? How many people are listening to “Last Dance” from Thank God It’s Friday (which won the award in 1978)?"

5. Se os anfitriões não são dignamente aproveitados, que não existam de todo:

"(...) if we’re going to hire a host to give us entertainment, then it has to be someone who is going to entertain us for more than just the opening twenty minutes of the show. Every year, no matter if it's Jon Stewart, Chris Rock or Hugh Jackman, the host gets his opening monologue or dance number and then basically disappears for large stretches at a time, popping up only to give us a witty one-liner and then disappear again".

6. Exibir as curtas-metragens nomeadas antes da cerimónia:

"The majority of people aren’t familiar with many of the short films – animated and live action – before the awards start (...) Before the red carpet stuff begins, just air the short films in no particular order in two blocks – first animation, then live action".

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Exceptuando o argumento da exclusão do Óscar para Melhor Canção (ou Tema Original, como alguns preferem apelidar a categoria), considero as ideias apresentadas por Noah Forrest pertinentes e originais q.b. para serem tomadas em conta pela Academia de Artes e Ciências Cinematográficas.

E a vossa opinião?