In my last article I commented, somewhat flippantly that many Oscar members vote for films they haven’t seen. Is this true? I suspect it is but cannot be sure. Assuming I am correct, I wondered how people would vote for movies they hadn’t seen. They could only choose by reputation, with this in mind I asked a few friends and colleagues. I gave the name of a couple of nominated movies each, and asked what they know about them. Here are a few real comments, one per movie:
I want to see that, it’s a sort of comedy horror but with black people. 
Not another war movie. 
The trailer looks a bit boring. Is it supposed to be a horror? 
The one with the sweary woman and the raciest cop. 
Is that the one about the woman and a fish man? Weird!
Another comedy about a girl who doesn’t like her mom… and her teacher. 
Never heard of it, oh, Is that the Churchill movie, why don’t they just call it Churchill. 
Is that the gay one? 
Oh, I like Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep. What’s it about. 
I think The Post will pick up the most votes from this type of voter! The voting system for the foreign language movie makes a lot more sense!
I know these are random comments from regular people but the comments from anonymous Academy members aren’t that much more informed or even rational. Very interesting indeed.