{"id":1639,"date":"2008-01-22T12:52:47","date_gmt":"2008-01-22T12:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/idolchatter\/2008\/01\/oscar-noms-its-the-morality-st.html"},"modified":"2008-01-22T12:52:47","modified_gmt":"2008-01-22T12:52:47","slug":"oscar-noms-its-the-morality-st","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2008\/01\/oscar-noms-its-the-morality-st.html","title":{"rendered":"Oscar Noms: It’s the Morality, Stupid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Or more accurately, it\u2019s the recession, stupid. Just as the major presidential candidates have rewritten their scripts from \u201cchange agent\u201d to \u201csteady at the helm,\u201d the Oscar nominations, announced this morning<\/a>, are asking us to take a second look at dark films we once dismissed but seem right on-message. Each of the best picture nominees scold, doubt or plain old go bad.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cJuno,\u201d the story of a teen mom who gives her baby up for adoption to a newly divorced yuppie, is probably the most feel-good flick among the best picture contenders. Its chances for a nomination were judged as frail as its crocus-in-the-snow happy ending (too indie, too much of a teen flick). \u201cAtonement,\u201d a morality play set amid WWI, was similarly dismissed (dreary British characters), as was \u201cMichael Clayton,\u201d about a cynical law-firm \u201cfixer\u201d (bad opening box office).
\nBut a little plumbing of humanity\u2019s foibles goes further in a down market. In the end, the critics\u2019 beefs with these films will likely keep them from winning, at least if the economy and the war keep dragging our spirits down. What depressive nation could resist giving the Oscar to films called \u201cThere Will Be Blood\u201d or \u201cNo Country for Old Men\u201d?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Or more accurately, it\u2019s the recession, stupid. Just as the major presidential candidates have rewritten their scripts from \u201cchange agent\u201d to \u201csteady at the helm,\u201d the Oscar nominations, announced this morning, are asking us to take a second look at dark films we once dismissed but seem right on-message. Each of the best picture nominees…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":110,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movies"],"yoast_head":"\nOscar Noms: It's the Morality, Stupid<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2008\/01\/oscar-noms-its-the-morality-st.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Oscar Noms: It's the Morality, Stupid\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Or more accurately, it\u2019s the recession, stupid. Just as the major presidential candidates have rewritten their scripts from \u201cchange agent\u201d to \u201csteady at the helm,\u201d the Oscar nominations, announced this morning, are asking us to take a second look at dark films we once dismissed but seem right on-message. Each of the best picture nominees…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2008\/01\/oscar-noms-its-the-morality-st.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Idol Chatter\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-01-22T12:52:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paul O'Donnell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Oscar Noms: It's the Morality, Stupid","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2008\/01\/oscar-noms-its-the-morality-st.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Oscar Noms: It's the Morality, Stupid","og_description":"Or more accurately, it\u2019s the recession, stupid. 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