Posthumous Awards

Written by Andreas Babiolakis


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Today’s quick think piece is surrounding the acclaim Chadwick Boseman has been receiving for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom: he has enough buzz attached to his performance that he may find himself being nominated for — and subsequently winning — an Academy Award posthumously. This wouldn’t be the first posthumous win in the award’s history. Recent notable examples include Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight) and Gil Friesen (20 Feet from Stardom), but they join a list of over a dozen (including Peter Finch for Network). Boseman might follow in the footsteps of actors like Ledger and Finch if Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom keeps up the momentum it currently has.

So, what does that mean in short? A great performance got recognized, and the dearly departed are honoured. Plain and simple. The main reason why I’m writing today is because I can already foresee the nonsense that happened when Ledger won for his role as the Joker: accusations that someone was awarded because of their death, and not their work on its own merits. First off, there have been many posthumous nominees that didn’t go on to win (Spencer Tracey for Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Robert Alan Aurthur for All That Jazz, and two James Dean roles). Secondly, it’s incredibly disrespectful to these filmmakers and performers, and their work, to suggest that they weren’t actually qualified enough to be recognized as artists for career defining outputs.

I think it’s actually sick to go this negative route. Maybe the passing of someone does affect how the academy votes. At the end of the day, who cares? Life is bigger than these accolades. I also feel like these artists wouldn’t be in consideration if their work didn’t speak for itself. Heath Ledger as the Joker was arguably the finest work of his career, and undeniably the frontrunner supporting role of 2008. Peter Finch led one of the greatest films of all time as a character not many actors could have pulled off. Similarly, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is the opportunity Chadwick Boseman’s career was always leading towards, and it only makes sense that he was going to deliver a performance of this caliber at some point.

I think it’s a blessing that we did get this performance, so we at least got to see Boseman at his best. There’s a good chance that he will be picking up awards posthumously. Good. He deserves them. Don’t be petty about it and think it’s some conspiracy. Besides, even if the award did act as a tribute, it’s far more honest than the legacy wins many people get (an article for another day). The test of time is more definitive than awards shows (no matter how invested I get with them) when it comes to legacies. Let this memento mean something else, whether it was given out of artistic merit alone, or as a sign of appreciation for those we have lost.

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Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.