- How are you doing, you wonderful nerds?
Scott here, and you probably heard by now that Logan was nominated for the Oscar for
Best Adapted Screenplay, but it didn't win.
Now, this video is definitely not going to be me complaining about how
“LOGAN WAS TOTALLY SNUBBED!
HOW DARE THEY GIVE THE OSCAR TO…” what was it again?
Call Me By Your Name?
I didn’t watch it.
I’m sure it’s great.
It won an award.
No, instead I want to try something a little different today.
Because if you didn’t know, we have a second channel called NerdSync Sidekick where, a
few months back, I uploaded a video about the nomination that Logan got and what it meant for
comic book movies as a whole.
Are superhero films starting to get recognized for more things than just technical aspects?
What precisely makes Logan stand out? Lots of questions.
But at the time I made that video, I didn’t really think it was good enough for this channel.
So, I uploaded it to our second one.
Almost everyone disagreed and said it should be on this channel.
So since most of the points I make in the video are still relevant, I thought we could play it here on this channel,
and now that we know Logan did indeed lose,
we'll come back at the end for some additional thoughts about, y'know,
what now? Where do we go from here?
So here’s the original video.
And stick around until the end for more of me talking.
How are you doing, you wonderful nerds?
Scott here, and in case you missed the news, Logan was recently nominated for an Academy
Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, which is awesome.
It's a fantastic film, not just a great superhero movie, but a great movie in general.
It's certainly not the best superhero movie, in my opinion.
You may disagree.
There are tons of awesome films about super-people.
It's a shame that they keep being snubbed at awards shows.
Which is not at all to say that Logan getting an Oscar nomination is unprecedented.
The 1978 Superman movie snagged a couple nominations and some wins.
A few Batman and Spider-Man movies over the years also had some nominations.
And let's not forget that Suicide Squad, out of all of the movies, actually won an Oscar
for Best Makeup and Hairstyles, so...
That's wild.
Heck, Guardians of the Galaxy 2 is nominated this same year for an Oscar in Visual Effects.
And that's kind of a theme, actually.
If superhero movies do get a nomination, it's usually for something technical like makeup
or sound design or, the most common, visual effects.
And that's honestly great.
It's because of all of these things that we get these awesome, modern-day superhero movies.
So don't think that I'm putting down any of these categories.
I went to college to become a visual effects artist.
So, stuff's important.
But in the world of live-action superhero movies, I can only think of one other film
of that kind that won for something that wasn't technical, Heath Ledger's portrayal of the
Joker in The Dark Knight.
What makes the Logan nomination so exciting and news-worthy is that it's the first comic
book superhero movie that I'm aware of that's getting recognition for its story.
That's weirdly rare.
I mean, yes, Incredibles did win Best Animated Feature in 2005, but I feel like that's a
bit of a different breed than the live-action comic book superhero movies that we all might
instinctively think of when we hear the words "superhero movie."
You know, your Avengers, your Justice Leagues, your Suicide Squads, apparently.
I'm actually one of the people that enjoyed Suicide Squad.
Don't tell anyone.
I'll be kicked off the Internet.
Some outlets claim that Logan's nomination in recognition of its story, instead of its
technical aspects like other superhero movies, is a sign that the Academy is starting to
slowly warm up to the idea of superhero movies.
I mean, it took the Sci-Fi Fantasy genre a long time before they started to get that
same kind of recognition.
And honestly, it's still a bit of a struggle.
So maybe superhero movies, likewise, just need a little bit more time.
And perhaps Logan and Heath Ledger's Joker and, heck, we'll throw Incredibles in there
as well, maybe all of that represents a very slow, gradual change in mindset that allows
superhero movies to be recognized as more than just technically fine.
And that sounds exciting.
It sounds like we're building to something awesome, but unfortunately it's probably not
the case.
Glen Weldon, author, super-nerd, all-around smart person, put it best in his article that
I will have linked in the description down below.
He basically said that Logan snagging a nomination was nothing more than a glitch.
Which is not to downplay Logan as a movie at all.
It's a great film.
And a big reason is because it felt and was different than a lot of superhero movies.
Instead of telling a story of mass destruction and world-ending threats where the sun shines
down onto the rubble of the battlefield where our snarky heroes stand victorious, Logan
aimed to deliberately contrast that and say, "No, no, this is what actually happens "at
the end of the day.
"This is what happens when you get blood on your hands.
"You don't just get to go eat shawarma."
In this way, Logan attempted to transform the genre to provide a deeper and more meaningful
story, and one with a clear, unambiguous ending.
I mean, think about it, having a constant onslaught of movies and sequels that all take
place in the same universe is incredible to us fans, but probably not the average moviegoer,
who might find it exhausting and unsatisfying.
There's never really the end.
It's more just the and.
As Weldon succinctly put it, "Nerds want adventure.
"But Normals want stories."
And stories have conclusions.
And it's that closure at the end of the film that makes Logan hit harder that most other
superhero movies.
I'm not crying, you're crying.
So I guess my point is that I'm not really gonna hold my breath for other serialized
superhero movies to grab Oscar nominations that don't involve technical aspects.
And, heck, I'm not even sure if Logan is actually gonna win this.
I am, however, curious to see how Avengers: Infinity War will play out, as that's been
teased to be the "end" of certain characters and storylines within the MCU.
While the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe would continue on undoubtedly forever until
the end of time, having some kind of definitive ending for the characters that we've grown
to know and love over the years would be, that'd be nice.
I mean, it would be terrible and I would be really sad about it, but I guess that's why
it would be nice.
I don't know, what do you guys think?
So obviously we know now that Logan didn’t win, and I don't even think Guardians of the Galaxy won
for visual effects. And, again, I'm not complaining
or saying that these movies should have won because they're perfect.
The only perfect movie, as we all know, is Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
And, honestly, it's strange to me that people continue to still make films even though the medium
was perfected in 2010.
But the failure of Logan to win its nomination is still a bit discouraging, right?
WRONG!
Sure, Logan didn’t win, but I think the nomination in and of itself is a victory.
Just not as much of one as... an actual victory.
But I have hope.
I think as long as superhero movies continue to push the boundaries of what audiences think
that they're capable of, any recognition of those movies can affect the genre as a whole,
hopefully in a positive way.
I’m looking at you, Suicide Squad. Academy Award-Winning Suicide Squad.
Keep doing your thing.