A Reel Opinion: Big Screen vs. Small

Earlier this week, the British Film Institute’s international magazine Sight and Sound released their annual critics’ list of the best films of the year, and one entry has not only raised eyebrows, but re-ignited a hot-burning debate over what exactly should be considered a film.

The list, which polls more than 180 critics, programmers, and academics from around the world, includes for the first time a TV series in the top ten; David Lynch’s TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN, which was ranked second, behind Jordan Peele’s GET OUT. The inclusion of a TV series has added fuel to the fire to the argument that there is a supposed eroding line between film and TV in the last few years; a fire that was given some extra flame when last year’s 7.5 hour TV documentary series OJ: MADE IN AMERICA won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.

With Oscar season in full swing and entering its busiest time, the argument rages that productions from home-streaming services like Netflix and Showtime (which ran TWIN PEAKS), should be considered when the Academy starts voting in the next few weeks. It’s a point that was actually started in 2015, when Idris Elba’s role in Netflix’s BEASTS OF NO NATION was not recognized by the Academy…despite critical acclaim and many calls for his inclusion.

Why wasn’t BEASTS OF NO NATION considered for an Oscar, and should TWIN PEAKS be in the running? Why wouldn’t they (other than the obvious of both of them being made for TV), if the quality is there? The Academy will only pay attention to productions that actually play in a movie theatre; they’re old-school in that way, they want people to go to the movies, and seemingly believe that the big screen is the true home for a film. They probably think of themselves as the caretakers of the sanctity of cinema, and they would be right to do so; someone has to do it. Now, the Oscars have changed and evolved over the years; categories have been re-named, altered, and flat-out discontinued…but opening the door for a series that never saw the inside of a movie theatre is likely to never happen. Especially since a TV series is a completely different format than film; a series can take 10-12 hours to tell a story, where a film is confined to just 2-3 hours. And besides, the Emmys and the Golden Globes exist to honor TV shows.

The calls for Netflix productions like BEASTS OF NO NATION, and this year’s MUDBOUND to be honored by the Academy are getting louder, but this Blogger sees this as a trendy thing. Home streaming services are extremely popular, and rightfully so, but people need to quit acting like Netflix is the first home entertainment service to make their own movies; HBO has been doing it for decades without one goddamn Oscar nomination. Nothing has changed to make the line between TV and film disappear, with only popularity and easy accessibility as the driving force. Home-streaming is cool so therefore the thought is everything they do is better than anything else, and that’s not enough.

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See Sight and Sound’s complete list HERE