The Oscars Are in Thrall to a New Wave of Resistance Politics

The film historian and journalist, Mark Harris, published a book in 2007 called “Pictures at a Revolution,” which focused on the best picture nominees at the 1968 Academy Awards: “The Graduate,” “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” “In the Heat of the Night,” and “Doctor Dolittle.” These films both shaped the landscape of Hollywood and reflected contemporary America’s views of race and youth anxiety.Fast forward to now and the best picture nominees still usually reflect the state of cinema in the previous year. Last year’s ceremony demonstrated the power of independent cinema, which has increasingly struggled at the box office. This year the focus on the Academy Awards, now in their 98th year, centers around two films that are frontrunners at the ceremony which will take place on Sunday: “One Battle After Another”, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, and “Sinners,” the horror-Western directed by Ryan Coogler. The two films received thirteen and sixteen Oscar nominations respectively. “Sinners” represents the populist option, a commercially successful hit that’s a hybrid of a horror and a Western; “One Battle After Another” is a critical darling that tells the story of a revolutionary who rescues his daughter from an authoritarian regime. The 1968 Oscars revealed a shift in America’s attitudes towards authority, where the cultural elites moved towards the left. With the re-election of President Donald Trump, many pundits predicted a cultural vibe shift that would be favorable towards the administration, pointing to movie studios such as Disney significantly reducing their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Yet the majority of this year’s best picture nominees reveal a vision of America that’s incredibly bleak. The leading movies of 2025 portray political violence to various degrees reflecting the increase in political ferocity as the USA continues to be divided. “One Battle After Another,” released two weeks after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, is sympathetic to characters who are far-left and often glorify their violence towards authority. “Sinners” paints a bleak vision of America that witnesses the culture of African Americans, in the lead-up to the Jim Crow laws, being taken away by white Americans. “Bugonia”, which is directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and is a remake of a Korean film, centres around two conspiracy theorists kidnapping a pharmaceutical CEO, thinking that she is an alien. “The Secret Agent” sees a professor caught in the crossfire of the Brazilian dictatorship, trying to flee persecution. Ironically Ari Aster’s “Eddington,” which was not nominated for any Oscars, followed this pattern more profoundly. The film centred around a small town becoming divided over petty issues during 2020 when race riots and the Covid-19 pandemic were both at their height. If there was any movie that deserves more recognition, it’s “Eddington,” which depicted the absurdity of political polarization around the time, with precision and wit. Anyone hoping that these movies could lead to political change should think twice. In an op-ed for The New York Times, Hope Reeves, the daughter of two Weathermen activists, lambasted what she dubbed the “popcorn resistance” of “One Battle After Another.” While she demonstrated her extremist politics in the article, her thesis was essentially correct — pseudo-radicalism is due to critics wishing that it were the case. While it is not unusual for the movies released during awards season to succumb to left-wing groupthink, this year’s best picture nominees indicates that the mainstream movie landscape has not moved away from “wokeness” in the ways that some people might have thought. Such overt messaging shouldn’t distract from the fact that there are some high-caliber best picture Oscar nominees this year. If there’s anything that “F1,” “Sentimental Value,” and “Marty Supreme” have in common, it’s that they centre around characters who aspire to greatness. “Sentimental Value” is about an aging filmmaker trying to make one last great film by reuniting with his daughter, while “F1” and “Marty Supreme” are both about two men fighting to emerge from their own personal wilderness and attempting to achieve the highest honor while eschewing societal norms. The Oscar campaign run by “Marty Supreme” is fascinating. The movie’s star, Timothee Chalamet aims to capture control of the attention economy in an age where name recognition isn’t a guarantee of a box office hit. The way Mr. Chalamet has promoted himself and his film ensures that the movie has a cultural footprint big enough at least for Academy Award voters not to ignore. After all, the film has now become the highest-grossing film domestically for A24, the independent studio that made it.The Academy Awards still struggle with relevance, largely because fewer people are watching the movies that are nominated. Previously campaigns and the critical hype often pushed the movies at the box office. But there are signs of optimism such as the introduction of an Academy Award for best casting to recognize the craft of casting directors, who after all determine which actors should play which characters. A new category for best achievement in stunt design will be introduced in 2028, providing greater recognition for the technical aspects in the blockbusters that movie audiences have actually seen.But if anonymous ballots have revealed anything, it’s likely that “Sinners”, having won big at the SAG Actor Awards and the Writers Guild of America Awards, will win best picture and best actor for Michael B. Jordan, whereas “One Battle After Another” will run away with best director for Paul Thomas Anderson. There’s still nothing more that the Academy loves more than movies that are totems for the new wave of resistance politics.

The Oscars Are in Thrall to a New Wave of Resistance Politics

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