Why "Argo" Won Best Picture

The 85th Academy Awards named Ben Affleck's, Argo best picture of the year. While this Oscar was well deserved, it did not come as a surprise to me based on past winners.

Many factors are considered when determining this award, and it is not box office success or popular actors that decide the winner. If you look at past winners and their competition, it is clear that the award does not always go to the best picture, but the picture that reflects what society values at that time.

I am not suggesting that Argo did not deserve to win. Not at all. But for those who are confused about how this film made its way up and crushed films like Les Miserables and Lincoln, let me voice my opinion.

Aside from being a dramatic, deep, emotional and witty movie (a trend at the Oscars year after year), think about the story Argo tells. It's about the joint CIA-Canadian operation to rescue six American diplomatic personnel from Iran in 1980. Even if this plan did not involve something as interesting and sneaky an elaborate fake movie, the historic story is vital as to why the film won.

Foreign affairs is a current “hot topic” in the U.S now. There is a lot of discussion and debate about our relationships with countries, such as Iran. The CIA plan that the movie dramatizes, helps to explain our current relationship with Iran. 

As Denver Post movie critic Lisa Kennedy said

“"Argo" deals with one of the most volatile moments in American foreign affairs in the last 50 years: the storming of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4, 1979. Reverberations from the toppling of the Shah, the rise of the Ayatollahs and the forging of an Iranian theocracy continue to inform the U.S. relationship to Iran and Middle East.”

This film depicts a piece of contemporary history, in which the United States was the hero. This reflects the values that are important today.

The trend of Oscars going to movies reflecting current values has been seen time and again in Hollywood. Perhaps that is why Shakespeare in Love beat the more critically acclaimed movie, Saving Private Ryan in 1998. Maybe society wasn't ready for such a graphic depiction of war so soon after Rwandan genocide and the civil wars in Afghanistan. Maybe they valued a small romantic comedy instead.

Mrs. Minniver won in 1942. A movie about World War II. This shows us that the Academy valued the depiction of the current war. The same is true the following year when Casablanca won.

In 1951, the Academy showed us that after the war, when the country was flourishing, and music and dancing were popular, An American in Paris reflected the mood of the nation more than A Streetcar Named Desire.

The true greatness of the Oscars is not that they tell us what the greatest films are. They convey what society values at the time.

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