WARNING: SPOILERS FOR SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME BELOW!
With the release of Spider-Man: No Way Home last week, it was recently announced that Sony and Marvel are going to campaign for the film to receive a Best Picture nomination from the Academy this year. To date, Black Panther is the only superhero film to be nominated for Best Picture. Could Spider-Man: No Way Home be the second on the elusive list? While it may be an uphill battle, the news has reignited a debate that has been ongoing over the last few years in terms of superhero cinema: are superhero movies considered art?
SPOILER ALERT: yes they absolutely are!
Look, I may be a little biased because I am a superhero film fanatic but superhero movies (and television shows) are art. Sure you have your criticism from Martin Scorsese and Ridley Scott (and a few others), whose main argument is that superhero films are more like "theme parks" and that they are "boring", but in my opinion they couldn't be farther from the truth. I understand why they do not like them: superhero movies are everywhere. Most of the time (or every time for the MCU), you are looking at a surefire moneymaker, whether the film is good or not. This narrows the field for theater distribution because they have to make money. Is a theater going to give Spider-Man and a period piece from the 1800's the same amount of theater time? Of course not. The theaters want to make money, so they'll go with Spider-Man and give it the most theaters to get as many people as they can to see it. This is partly why I think superhero movies have turned off filmmakers like Scorsese and Scott, as they tend to make more "artsy" movies that often times get pushed aside by superhero films. Superhero films should not be faulted for this. Not to mention that a lot of talent goes behind these films as well, both in front of and behind the camera.
As for performances, superhero films simply do not get their recognition. While Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix have won Oscars for their respective Jokers, there are tons of performances that have been overlooked in my opinion. Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart in Logan, Willem Dafoe in Spider-Man: No Way Home (assuming he doesn’t land a surprise nomination), Josh Brolin in Avengers: Infinity War, Robert Downey Jr in Avengers: Endgame, Gary Oldman in The Dark Knight are just a few examples of fantastic performances in superhero movies. I always find myself saying about some superhero movie performances: “they won’t get nominated for an Oscar but they should”. Maybe it is time for the Academy to stop overlooking superhero movies as commercial films and see them for the art that they truly are.
Some also forget what some of these superhero films have done for the moviegoing public. When Avengers: Endgame came out, we all saw the reaction videos to the final battle when the Avengers assemble to defeat Thanos and his army. People, myself included, went nuts. If you’re a fan, it spurs such a powerful feeling that is somehow hard to describe. Epic, moving, powerful. For me, the last time I felt anything of the sort in a theater was during the final battle in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, a movie that won eleven Oscars. Even with Spider-Man: No Way Home, when Tom Holland’s Peter teams up with Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Men to defeat their enemies is nothing short of epic. There are typical Oscar films that don’t even come close to getting audiences to feel those kinds of feelings.
Am I trying to say that all superhero movies are art and instant classics? No. But the standout ones should have a lot more recognition. Not all superhero films are simply commercial features. Logan is a deep character study of its lead, who is looking mortality in the face and unwittingly seeks redemption. The Dark Knight is an intense crime thriller between two sides of the same coin and the sacrifices that must be made in personal crusades. Avengers: Infinity War follows one’s journey to help and save the entire universe, as misguided as his methods are. All of the movies aren’t just a big threat is coming to doom Earth and the heroes beat them up and save the day. There is more to it than that, with great emotional depth and character journeys along the way.
Should Spider-Man: No Way Home be nominated for Best Picture? Yes I believe so. Will it get nominated? At this point I can’t tell, but it will be an uphill climb for the film. But at the end of the day, whether it gets nominated or not, it will not take away how great the film is or the impact it will have.
Do you think superhero movies are considered art? Does the Academy need to take them more seriously? Comment below!
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