When Green Book won Best Picture at the 2019 Academy Awards, many people were shocked and dismayed. The film had garnered positive reviews from some, but it was hardly a standout, and for many it was polarizing, with critics suggesting that it was a sentimental and historically tone-deaf representation of race relations. Some thought the film was just a recapitulation of the "white savior" trope, while others criticized the Don Shirley character as tailored for white audiences. Justin Chang in The Los Angeles Times wrote that it was the worst Best Picture since Crash, writing, "It reduces the long, barbaric and ongoing history of American racism to a problem, a formula, a dramatic equation that can be balanced and solved. Green Book is an embarrassment; the film industry’s unquestioning embrace of it is another."
While some might shrug off the Academy Awards as ultimately not the sole barometer for achievement in the film industry, many saw Green Book's win as a step back for an industry that otherwise appeared to be championing more progressive and sophisticated stories about race and history. Indeed, for a category honoring the "best" movie in a whole year, with a narrow criteria for what qualifies a film, the Academy was destined to receive some criticism for whatever film they chose, but Green Book struck many as markedly wrong, comparing it to another controversial Best Picture winner that many felt missed the point when it came to race, Crash, the 2004 film directed by Paul Haggis.
Many writers have pointed to the various components at play in determining a winner for the Academy Awards. Eliana Dockterman wrote for Time, "Blame the politics of Hollywood. Studios launch massive campaigns to lobby for their movies. The political climate can sway voters. And the Academy’s lack of diversity can impact not only who is nominated but who gets the win. The result: A movie deemed a “classic” decades down the road leaves the ceremony without any statues." In her article, she exposes the fact that over the years, it has rarely been the most genuinely significant film that is honored in this category, due to the number of factors that go into determining the winner. It is worth asking, however, what the significance of the awards are if they so often go to the "wrong" winner. What does the privilege of an Academy Award afford to certain structures, and what are the ways that a win for a film like Green Book detracts from the progress being made in American cinema?
