Should animated films be considered for Best Picture at the Academy Awards?

Encyclopedia of Opinion

Question: Should animated films be considered for Best Picture at the Academy Awards?
Position‹2 of 2: No, animated films should not be considered for Best Picture at the Academy Awards
Argument‹3 of 3: The majesty of escapism

Films have long been touted as a means to escape reality and become immersed in other worlds and stories.

The argument

Escapism is defined as entertainment as an escape from reality or routine. The primary goal of film is to offer the audience a means of escaping the complicated and messy world that they live in. As such, film is a type of escapism, and if that is what the medium exists to do, it is also the standard against which films are properly judged. When it comes to types of films, animated films have a huge advantage in providing "an escape from reality." The advantage is built into the form rather than earned by any particular production. Animation is limited only by imagination, whereas live action film is limited by CGI technology and reality. A live-action production must begin from something that exists, whether a place, a performer or a physical object, and every departure from that has to be manufactured, at a cost, and within the reach of the available technology. Animation carries no such starting point, so the distance it can travel from the ordinary world is set by what can be conceived rather than by what can be built or photographed. Thus, comparing animated films to live action films would leave live action films at a disadvantage when it comes to providing the audience with imaginative landscapes and characters. The two are not competing on equal terms: one begins at the world and works outward from it, the other may begin anywhere. An award judging films on the quality the medium exists to deliver would therefore be measuring one category against a constraint the other never faces. Live action films cannot be fairly compared to animated films for "Best Picture" when the primary goal of a film is escapism.

Premises

[P1]If the primary purpose of film is escapism—an escape from reality—then animation holds a decisive advantage, being limited only by imagination while live action is bound by CGI technology and physical reality. [P2] Judging both categories together for the same award therefore places live-action films at an inherent disadvantage on the very quality, imaginative escape, that the medium is meant to deliver. [C] Because animated and live-action films cannot be fairly compared on escapism, animated films should not be considered for Best Picture.

Counter-arguments

While it may be the goal of some films to provide the audience with an escape, it is not the primary goal of all films. Some films aim to make the audience connect with a character first and foremost. While it may be easier for animation to provide escapism, the fact that escapism is not the primary goal of all films minimizes this advantage. Further, if films were judged solely on the effectiveness of their escapism, it is safe to say that at least one of the animated films nominated for Best Picture would have won the award. Since no animated film has ever won the Best Picture category, it can be assumed that escapism is not a significant factor in the selection process for the winner of Best Picture.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] The primary goal of film is not escapism but rather allowing the audience to connect with the characters. [Rejecting P2] A film is awarded Best Picture based on how successful it is at conveying emotion and telling a story, not providing the audience with escapism.