Apple’s “Coda” Wins Historic Oscar for Best Picture at the Academy Awards

It was up against the biopic of the Williams sisters' father "King Richard", Japanese film "Drive My Car", Stephen Spielberg's remake of "West Side Story", and gay western "The Power of the Dog".

Perhaps the last was the second time such a film has been snubbed by the Academy, after "Brokeback Mountain" was infamously passed over by "Crash" in 2005.

Whenever I see racist used in a sentence about deaf people I always think about if the person saying it has any idea what they're talking about, or if this is an example of language "evolving".

Admittedly this is a sample size of 1.

Would you flip that around and say that people are only receptive to movies with white, straight abled leads because it has a group that the majority can identify with, either through being of that demographic or as a byproduct of colonialism?

Well this should disabuse you of that notion:

— it’s a secret ballot

— the members of the jury aren’t widely known, as far as I can tell

— they care little for the reputation of the institution itself

— those that care are more likely to hate it for being snubbed in the past

— those that won obviously deserved the price and feel strongly that a meritocracy abhors loyalty

= this is a great chance to really vote with the heart, including settling a few scores with any group you secretly loath especially because “political correctness” forces you to keep it to yourself the rest of the year

Bonus inconsistency:

— there have been all-deaf movies before that didn’t win

Some groups were systematically or implicitly excluded from honors such as the Oscars for centuries. It’s great to see the trend bending towards justice. Unfortunately, they sometimes see their legitimate success undermined by various “but you didn’t really win the price/get hired/become President” strategies.

So… congratulations to being part of the problem, I guess.

This is exactly the Apple model. "Quality not quantity".

ATV+ doesn't have the glut of content that Netflix has, but pretty much all of their stuff is 8/10 or over on most rating sites. They might not be to your exact tastes, but they're still damn good.

What HBO film is that?

If you’ve watched anything on Netflix and Apple Tv recently I’m sure you’ve noticed the insane quality difference. 90% of what Netflix is producing feels like “film for tv” in the 90s at best.

> Kind of creeps me out that Apple gets to just slide in and immediately become oscar winning film/tv production company darling, as well.

If you get some magical “street cred” in the industry for simply being the party to win the bidding war over a film after it was already produced, shown at a film festivals, and critically acclaimed, then yeah, that seems at least silly if not creepy. Surely there’s a big different between a company funding the creation of a film, and a company just buying the rights to stream a completed film.

It's more reflective of HN I think, it isn't a worthy HN submission - even by the loathsome fanboyism that's rampant here - and this particular post is pretty low quality.

Eh, no one is giving Apple credit for this win other than Apple themselves. They bought distribution rights to the film well after production was finished and it was already making waves in the festival circuit. Apple's own studio had zero creative input.

I get the feeling people here think that the Apple Film/TV crew is somehow related to the actual Cupertino company we know as "Apple". Not really. Not to pretend I'm in the know, but it's clear from every press release that Apple (and Netflix) hire creatives and production executives in LA. Apple provides the budget and some direction (like, put a sexy iphone into every episode of Ted Lasso), and then the Hollywood pros make the creative decisions that actually result in an awesome or mediocre production.

So maybe Apple is spending more money on better talent. Or maybe they're just funneling it better (big productions like Foundations instead of a bunch of cooking shows).

> I'm sure someone at Netflix is cheesed with how quickly and easily Apple can just start drinking their milkshake, though.

This is expected. Netflix were the trailblazers. Of course everyone who comes after them will have an easier job doing it.

Why?

A24/Searchlight do the same thing.

Acquiring rights and succeeding in distribution is an art and unfortunately $$ doesn’t = success.

CODA was clearly the best film from a list of extremely poor films this year. There were only two good films this year, with The Worst Person in the World, and the too intellectual Drive My Car.

CODA is the third remake of an excellent story, with the second remake, with Luane, being unbeatable in Europe. Nobody in Europe wants to see this attempt, but for the American market it's huge. It was already the biggest film at Sundance. So why not, for their domestic market it's good enough. But that's why the big studios bailed on it.

What is the context of this comment?

Apple did not have anything to do with producing this film. Their own studio was not involved with it at all. They bought the distribution rights well after the movie had already become a darling in the festival circuit.

Unfortunately this is the confusing way of the world.

IIRC, Netflix is able to run a logo credit for themselves in Star Trek Discovery despite only having licensing rights, but it gives the impression that it's a Netflix show (that being said, their buying the rights to stream it is de facto a large swath of their production budget)

1 free year, damn I'm only getting 3 months free nags and they want me to buy an Apple product to get it.