Animation Discrimination

The year, 1991.

The movie, Beauty and the Beast.

The award, Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST REMAINS THE ONLY ANIMATED PICTURE TO BE NOMINATED FOR BEST PICTURE
why should you care?

I am not the most soulful person. I am not the most creative. However, I do recognize when something is beautiful or at a minimum, when a lot of effort has been put into its creation. I have witnessed the creation of animated films first hand and know that just as much work goes into an animated feature as does a live-action feature. The question remains, why have movies like The Lion King, Aladdin, Toy Story etc, been left unnominated.

When Shrek was released in 2001, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences decided that it was time to created a "Best Animated Film" category. Previously the Academy also created, "Best Foreign Film" and "Best Documentary". The academy claims that all films in these categories can still be nominated for Best Picture, however after doing some research, I have no found one film that was in more than one of the categories. I feel that these categories serve to partition films that fit into them from the Best Picture Nomination.

Here is the question I purpose: Does the Academy purposely separate animated films because they feel that best picture needs to be a live-action? Or are they simply trying to make sure they have enough awards to have a long enough awards show to televise?