academy of motion picture arts and sciences

The Oscars have had a bias towards awarding dramatic movies ever since they started. If you look at the entire list of past winners, there’s almost no disputing that claim. 

Now, if you look at the list of new members invited to be part of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, the governing and voting body of The Oscars, it doesn’t look like that bias will change that much. Sure, they have some youth and injected into the AMPAS membership with the likes of Joesph Gordon-Levitt and Rosario Dawson, which is good to see, yet the approximate representation from comedy is only a sliver with Paul Feig, Lena Dunham, and a few others.

It wouldn’t be as much of an issue if The Oscars were focused solely on honoring dramatic films, but the categories lack any such qualifier with Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, it would be great, and progressive to the art form of comedy, to see something besides a heavy handed period piece win.