The Return of the King Oscar love-fest encourages me, not just because the films are so damned good but because I hope this marks a continuing emergence of fantasy storytelling into the mainstream. I'm sick, sick, sick to death of the idea that only things that are "relevant", that take place in the "real world", are to be considered worthy -- a trend which is not just annoying but also starkly at odds with the rest of culture, where the fantastic holds sway to an impressive degree. Look at how much Shakespeare depends on fantasy; look at Homer. Imagine what the opera world would be like if you struck down all the operas with fantastic elements.
Congratulations, also, to Howard Shore for winning the Best Original Score and Best Original Song awards. The more I listen to these three scores, the more convinced I become that they are the greatest scores since John Williams's work on the original Star Wars trilogy. I was nonplused when Shore was originally announced as the composer, way back in 1999 or whenever -- like most film music fans, my only exposure to Shore was on films like The Silence of the Lambs and Seven -- but man, did he deliver in a huge way.
A couple other observations about the Oscar telecast (of which I didn't watch much):
:: Say what you will about Michael Moore, I loved that he had enough sense of humor about himself to allow a bit of self-parody. (For those who missed it, they showed a clip of the Battle of the Pellenor Fields from Return of the King, and suddenly, there's Moore in the middle of it, shouting, "You don't have to fight, Hobbits! This is a fictitious war fought for a fictitious King!" And then he gets trampled by one of the Mumakil.)
:: I used to watch the entire telecast every year, but I haven't done this in six or seven years. Nevertheless, I seem to have a weird ability to tune back in at the exact moment they're about to do the "Tribute to Departed Stars" segment. I'd forgotten all about how many wonderful people died this past year, and I'm glad the Academy thought to include composer Michael Kamen in its tribute.
:: I really think that Billy Crystal is a fine host for this show -- I enjoy his schtick a lot more than I enjoy Whoopi Goldberg's, for example. (Of course, I'm one who thinks that Letterman's performance wasn't nearly as bad as its legend has become.)
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