Entertainment Weekly: “How Obama helps Batman”

by Blair on Nov.29, 2008, under NEWS

This Entertainment Weekly article someone sent me this morning is just well… silly. I mean I’m a supporter of Obama and The Dark Knight but this is taking things too far:

How Obama helps Batman

Nov 6, 2008, 12:03 PM | by Dave Karger

Categories: Best Picture

Usually I’m not the kind of guy who thinks that outside events have too much influence on the Oscar race. I generally think it’s about the movies, more or less in a vacuum. But I do think that this week’s election-day results may have a profound effect on the Best Picture chances of two films. For starters, there’s The Dark Knight. I thought the sequence involving the two ferries (in which a group of commuters and a group of convicts have the power to blow up each others’ boats but don’t) was a bit too reality-show-ish for my taste. But I know most viewers loved it. Either way, that part of the film speaks to the innate goodness of human behavior. And let’s remember that Oscar ballots are due next January 12, just a week before Barack Obama is inaugurated. It’s safe to say most Hollywood types will also see that event as an example of innate human goodness. All of this only helps The Dark Knight’s chances, don’t you think?

Not really no.

io9 had this reply that I think sums it up nicely:

In a word… No. Sorry, Dave, but I have the strangest feeling that, when Academy members are considering whether The Dark Knight deserves an Oscar nod or not, they won’t be thinking “Well, now that Obama is trying to bring hope to this country, that reminds me of that part where the two boatloads of people fail to blow themselves up.” Or maybe that’s just me.

There is one noteworthy parallel to the cinema and the election that I thought was worth pointing out. Obama was of course photographed during the campaign watching a showing of The Dark Knight in a movie theater in Chicago (where it was also filmed). McCain instead for some reason was insanely in love with the other film that opened that weekend… Mamma Mia. Here was McCain’s bizarre ABBA rant from the campaign trail:

“Nobody likes them, but they sold more records than anybody in the history of the world, including The Beatles. But everybody hates them. You’re a no-class guy if you like ABBA. Why does everybody go see ‘Mamma Mia?’ Hypocrisy! Rank hypocrisy! I’m not embarassed to say I like ABBA, ‘Dancing Queen.’”

- Sen. McCain

So there you go. I think the box office returns for TDK vs. Mamma Mia actually match in proportion to the electoral votes of Obama vs. McCain.

7 comments for this entry:

retnah
November 29th, 2008 on 1:45 am
The Dark Knight should get best picture nod, because it is the best picture of the year hands down. Nothing else this year comes clost to what is has achieved visually and plot wise either. I highly doubt the oscars will over look the american publics point of view!
drdringle
November 29th, 2008 on 9:20 am
Hahaha is that EW writer insane? Nobody at the academy is going to connect the two events. I don’t even think the film is that optimistic.
eyeoh7
November 29th, 2008 on 9:54 am
How John McCain’s loss helps Wall-E get nominated for Best Documentary by Entertainment Weekly.
zoom zoom
November 30th, 2008 on 3:44 pm
But how does Hillary Clinton help the Joker?
jinxster
December 1st, 2008 on 1:07 pm
I laughed but I think he wasn’t kidding.
whysoserious687
December 3rd, 2008 on 9:24 am
I would think it would be better to compare Obama and the film because isn’t Obama’s idea of change much like in the lines of Dent being Gotham’s White Knight? Where one is to clean up the criminal world the other is trying to clean up the entire country. I just thought that was an interesting thought.
Trama
December 3rd, 2008 on 9:55 am
He missed the mark completely. Obama paves the way for Dark Knight because a year ago he was considered a long-shot candidate at best, and there was no chance he was going to win the White House.

Perhaps the Academy will follow suit. Maybe they’ll feel like this is the year to give an outside film a shot (outside in the Academy Award sense).

Plus, due to plummeting ratings because most of America hasn’t seen the films they’re rewarding, the Academy is looking for ways to bring more mainstream films into the fold and give them a Titanic-like ratings boost.

That, and the Dark Knight is the best film of 2008.