Cinema is art. And art is all-encompassing. Sex is a part of it, to the delight of some and the dismay of others.
In what is easily among the biggest nights for Hollywood (and beyond), and outpouring of loved-up (or not) spice on screen seems to be have given a royal boot by the Academy. So is this a pattern indicative of the high and might's stance on sexual abundance on-screen? Or were the roulette of Oscar nominations contenders from the genre just not up to the mark this year? Which is it? Here are our case studies to consider.
Babygirl
Nicole Kidman is the moment. No matter the film, no matter the context, no matter the performance. How then, did her keynote release for last year, Halina Rejin's Babygirl, completely, manage to skip the radar of Oscars consideration? Straight up, the film is EXPLICIT. Sex, kinks, power and uncontrollable desire are the thematic highlights of Babygirl. Nicole plays Romy, a curt, glass ceiling-busting executive who falls in lust with her much younger intern Samuel, played by the mysteriously captivating Harris Dickinson. Why someone who has it all seemingly needs to feel like she's losing it all in bed is the intellectual undercurrent of the film. Yet not one nod.
Challengers
Zendaya. That's it, that's the big sell. Gen Z's superstar carried the Luca Guadagnino film on her shoulders flanked by Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist. Literally. Quite an experiment on Zendaya's part, the film opened to largely positive reviews. Intertwined with the almost as tense storyline of competitive sports, we can't really pinpoint a reason for it to be reduced to a blip in the Oscars radar, if that too. A Variety think piece on the other hand, simply pegs the eventuality of the film "fading from memory". Well...
{{/usCountry}}Zendaya. That's it, that's the big sell. Gen Z's superstar carried the Luca Guadagnino film on her shoulders flanked by Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist. Literally. Quite an experiment on Zendaya's part, the film opened to largely positive reviews. Intertwined with the almost as tense storyline of competitive sports, we can't really pinpoint a reason for it to be reduced to a blip in the Oscars radar, if that too. A Variety think piece on the other hand, simply pegs the eventuality of the film "fading from memory". Well...
{{/usCountry}}Tipping the balance: Anora
Anora may be an Oscar nominations underdog but it's 6 nominations nods may be indicative of the fact, that sexual explicitness on-screen may not be as big a turn off for the Academy as some are making it out to be. The 'issue' then, may not be the abundant presence of sex in the film, as much as sex being the whole plot.
Do you think the Academy has snubbed sex on screen this year?