Variety: ASIB is underperforming because it didn't have a social message

[andy232000 11,327]

6 minutes ago, M Monstre said:

When the article says that ASIB is "underperforming", they mean it in the sense that it's not winning a lot of awards. Yes, it's gotten amazing critical/audience success, yes, it's getting a lot of nominations, yes, the soundtrack is doing incredible, but it's also not winning a lot of awards. 

I think it's ignorant to say that the movie itself didn't have any sort of social message. The movie dealt with co-dependency, alcoholism, the dangers of being in a toxic relationship, etc. The movie did have a strong social message, and to say that it doesn't is just wrong.

That said, I do agree that when it comes to the awards campaign, ASIB didn't really have a strong social message. The campaign was largely repetitive and I definitely feel like they could have played up the fact that the movie had a strong social message more. The awards campaign was largely focused on Gaga, which was great for her, but we can see the result of having all the attention focused on one individual (i.e. people making fun of the "100 people in a room..." comment). 

Gaga's CC speech was very good, and I kinda wish that they had capitalized on that more. 

THIS. Look at how Black Panther score so many nominations. That movie has nothing to do with actual race issues, but Marvel played it as “The blockbuster with an all black cast”. Look how that turned out for them! 

Same with Bohemian Rhapsody. Its just a typical biopic, but add the “Struggling LGBT + AIDS battle for the icon we love” and bam! Nominations. 

 

[Pray4FameGa 3,141]

I do think Gaga and Bradley could have toned down the self praise during their promo and speeches and instead focussed on the messages of the film and how they hope it would inspire people. It’s a deep film.

I think she caught on, hence the Critics Choice speech but it’s probably too late to create a social “narrative” to the campaign, especially since “100 people” is now so iconic even with the GP.

Instead of talkinf about omg I’m so lucky the whole time the opportunities could have been used to promote a message. But then again they’re not dumb and 100 people would have been maticulously crafted, they’d have thought about the consequences of different speeches and sayings, which is probably why gaga seems so constrained and anxious during promotion. She felt the responsibility of an Oscars campaign.

ONG I’ve never analysed a movie’s attempt to get an Oscar so much, send help. 

[Sanne Godijn 2,203]

And i thought the oscars where about acting i gues i was wrong

[Mirages 20,259]

Hmmm well just show how ****ed up as a society we are. Movies don't have to be about social issues and can be a world where you lose yourself from everyday bullshit so why in the world would there have to be a social issue for the movie to win? 

[Sanne Godijn 2,203]

Winning awards shouldnt be about a social message but about talent period

[Bloodyjack 794]

Honestly I think the reason it's underperforming is because people look at it and go ooo lady gaga getting all the opportunities again. For some reason people can't just accept that it's possible to be multi talented, they have to blame it on spoon feeding or something 

[LateToCult 40,896]

Not delulus saying ASIB isn’t underperforming when so far Lady Gaga is the only thing about the film that is being awarded. 

I definitely see this being the main factor for all its losses. When you look at the films that they’re awarding even though ASIB was touted as being a big front runner it makes sense. Bohemian Rhapsody is the only oddball, but they did work that “LGBT movie” angle. The Oscars are the ones with a supposed change in members so I have a feeling it’ll be shut out there too except for song.  

[JustAnother 5,113]

The whole movie is surrounded by social messages...  Addiction, staying true to your yourself, sexism, etc. 

[Sanne Godijn 2,203]

1 minute ago, JustAnother said:

The whole movie is surrounded by social messages...  Addiction, staying true to your yourself, sexism, etc. 

This

[MEM 3,114]

This is so true. It's an incredible film, and yet it's not "groundbreaking" enough. I've seen complaints about the lack of diversity and the whole gender thing of a man helping a woman find success when that's completely not the point of the whole movie. SMH.

[Sanne Godijn 2,203]

13 minutes ago, JustAnother said:

The whole movie is surrounded by social messages...  Addiction, staying true to your yourself, sexism, etc. 

This

[JustAnother 5,113]

20 minutes ago, andy232000 said:

THIS. Look at how Black Panther score so many nominations. That movie has nothing to do with actual race issues, but Marvel played it as “The blockbuster with an all black cast”. Look how that turned out for them! 

Same with Bohemian Rhapsody. Its just a typical biopic, but add the “Struggling LGBT + AIDS battle for the icon we love” and bam! Nominations. 

 

Well the whole story is about race issues, the protagonist is pissed the whole movie about slavery and racism and tries to destroy the world  Actually I have a lot of thoughts on the movie, especially the fact that it’s very biased and one sided, I mean an African American goes to Africa to get help to destroy Europeans/western civilization becuase of slavery despite the fact that Africans are just to blame for (Trans Atlantic) slavery as Europeans...  It’s a very kiss ass movie which’s goal seemed to be only to get awards. 

 

1 minute ago, MEM said:

This is so true. It's an incredible film, and yet it's not "groundbreaking" enough. I've seen complaints about the lack of diversity and the whole gender thing of a man helping a woman find success when that's completely not the point of the whole movie. SMH.

I have too and it’s complete bs. ASIB exposes the gender inequality in the music industry and the sexism at play (Men can be normal and sing their music but women must be changed and manufactured/may be forced to become a sell out). Also there’s drag representation in the film that seems to always be left out when people complain about the lack of representation in their reviews.

[DeleteMyAccount 11,881]

The author of this article clearing doesn't know award season campaigning and strategy. The main reason ASIB is failing is because it peaked too early. 

[LaLa 19,638]

This is an interesting take. You know, it makes me think about two things: a) Bradley is very private, and b) Bradley is sober. And I really wonder how much this played into the whole campaign. 

In the first big piece of ASIB press (this NYT profile 'Bradley Cooper Is Not Really Into This Profile ') he was very very reluctant to talk about how his personal life and experiences played into the film. If he really wanted to I'm sure he could have come out hard talking about his own struggles with alcohol, and how his own father's death informed the making of the film, and really sold that personal narrative.

But he didn't, instead going with things like "the message is in the art for you to interpret" type of statements. His talk about making the film has been kind of detached I find. And I think that's because it's so deeply personal that he is reluctant to put too much out there.

He didn't do any actor roundtables, and just that one director one for THR I believe. Instead we got Gaga in big articles for Variety, THR, and doing roundtables and Actors on Actors etc. Which is great for us! But then we're left to hear all about Bradley's message from someone else.

Themes of addiction and co-dependence are obviously huge messages in the movie itself, but besides a few lines here and there haven't really been discussed in interviews, and I can see where this article is coming from, from an Oscar campaign perspective.

[Gardevoir 9,816]

1 hour ago, ryhanna said:

No offence but this is a load of ****. 

 "Underperforming." Where the hell did this expectation of it literally sweeping every possible award come from? That rarely happens. Film awards season is normally pretty competitive, and being nominated is a big achievement. I hate this attitude that's basically saying "unless you've won everything, you didn't do well enough."

@LateToCult that above is your answer about your “delulu” thing.