How Weird, A Movie About Fish Sex Became Awards Season’s Consensus Vote

A movie about a mute janitor romancing a godly fish-man won the Oscar for Best Picture.

Let’s maybe take a minute to consider how weird that is.

The same institution that has handed its top prize to movies about Gandhi, Shakespeare, William Wallace and Forrest Gump opted to honor an outré sci-fi ballad in which an amphibian’s erection is pantomimed in graphic detail. It’s certainly not the dullest outcome that could have occurred at Sunday’s awards.

“The Shape of Water” found itself in a heady position throughout the season. Based on the nebulous mix of horserace bellwethers ― precursor accolades, campaign machinations, box-office figures, media buzz ― it seemed Guillermo del Toro’s film lagged behind “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” the Martin McDonagh dramedy whose muddy racial politics didn’t prevent it from netting the Screen Actors Guild Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA. Meanwhile, “Get Out,” “Dunkirk” and “Lady Bird” were considered potential spoilers, each representing a distinct idea about where Hollywood stands right now and where it is headed.

Such is the agony and ecstasy of Oscar season: As self-indulgent and frivolous as the whole affair can be, there is, for better and worse, a political substance behind the grand foxtrot toward Best Picture. It’s perhaps American popular culture’s most transparent statement about itself. “This is the movie we’re the most proud to have made ― its values reflect our values,” some 7,000 Hollywood constituents collectively say.

Source: huffingtonpost