Please excuse the slightly cheesy title, i couldn't help it! After watching the 2000 film Girl, Interrupted; and after J-Law's win last week, i was inclined to think about the academy's seeming infatuation with mental illness. Over the last decade an overwhelmingly large number of films mainly or partially about mental illness. This year, Jennifer Lawrence, as stated earlier won for Silver Linings Playbook, Natalie Portman won in 2010 for Black Swan, with her stunning performance as Nina, and Angelina Jolie won in 2000 for Girl, Interrupted. It is in fact interesting to note that in 2010 three of the 4 acting Oscars won went to people portraying characters struggling with mental illness, Colin Firth, as a king struggling with a speech impediment, Portman as a dancer with schizophrenia, and finally Christian Bale as a man struggling with a crippling addiction. I feel it is also vital to note the presence of Silence of the Lambs in Oscar history, it is to date the only 'Horror Movie' to win the Oscar for best picture, and is one of very few to even be nominated. Anthony Hopkins win for his performance as Hannibal Lecter, despite being utterly compelling, is not typically classed as Oscar bait.
Finally on to Girl, Interrupted; despite the film gaining mainly mixed reviews from critics (the film has a metascore of 51) critics were united in their praise of Angelina Jolie as the psychotic Lisa, here again we are given a character who is not traditional 'Oscar bait', yet her portrayal is so compelling that we are drawn into her personality.
It seems to be true what the daily beast says; 'want to win an Oscar? play a crazy chick', a little crude perhaps, but true in essence, it seems that a disproportionate amount of people appearing in not traditionally Oscar winning films, ie: not historical biopics, have won Oscars for portraying mental illness, for example romantic comedies (silver linings playbook) horror (Silence of the Lambs) and thrillers (Black Swan) the conclusion has to be that the academy welcomes realistic compelling portrayals of mental illness.
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