84th Academy Awards – ‘Best Original Song’

Reference: SchutzHappens Day 948

Nominees:

·         "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets – Bret McKenzie

·         "Real in Rio" from Rio – Sérgio Mendes, Carlinhos Brown and Siedah Garrett

When it comes to the Oscars I really get spun up about the little things… and ‘Best Original Song’ is one of those categories that consistently ticks me off and gets me spun up the most.

As referenced in the above link (from my other blog), I have sounded off on this before so I won’t rehash my entire argument now, but to make a long story short, if a song is produced just to play while the credits roll, it has no place at the Oscars.  That’s just my personal opinion.

That said, the official statement from the music branch of the Academy is as follows:

“Unlike other categories, song nominees are determined by voting members of the music branch who watch sections of films where songs are played and nothing else. Since instituted, it has resulted in performance clips and animated songs being nominated but no end credit or background songs.”

Awesome!  That sounds awesome music branch… and it looks even better on paper!

Honestly, I have no idea when they instituted this methodology, but it has to be within the last 10 years.  Remember, back in 2003 and 2004, Eminem and Annie Lenox won for their ‘credit rollers’ at the end 8 Mile and LOTR: Return of the King. 

Anyway, I’m going to give the music branch an ‘A’ for effort this year… because it’s been a while since I’ve seen a ‘credit roller’ on the ballot and with only two nominees for Best Original Song this year, their voting practices are being questioned… and they are backing it up!

Again, I don’t know when the rules were changed, but apparently the music branch is allowed to nominate up to five songs each year… however, their byelaws for the category maps out a much more stringent criteria.

You see, when adjudicating song nominations each voting member of the music branch is asked to give each nominee a score from 1 to 10; 10 being the best.  In order to be eligible for a nomination, a song MUST earn, at least, an average score of 8.5. 

And according to the byelaws of this category, if no song receives an average score of 8.5 or more, then there will be no nominations and the award will not be given out that year.  Although this has never happened, the byelaws also cover a very interest contingency rule that many suspect is playing, as we speak, for the very first time:

What happens when only one song earns the right for the nomination?

Well, in the case of only one eligible song, a courtesy nomination is given to the, technically ineligible, second place song.

So, as you can imagine, with only two nominations this year and heavy hitters like Elton John, Madonna, Pink, and Zooey Deschanel being snubbed… critics can’t help but suspect that there is only one eligible song!  And it looks like this could be a VERY good year for the Muppets.

EGOTing Pick:  "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets – Bret McKenzie