The 67th edition of the Oscars has come to an end, but the controversy surrounding the feast has only just begun.

In this war without gunpowder, "Forrest Gump" had the last laugh, including five little golden figures, becoming the biggest winner tonight; "Pulp Fiction" fought to the end, and finally won the Best Editing and Best Original Screenplay awards, which was correspondingly affirmed and made history; And the "Shawshank Redemption", which came later in the nomination stage, fell short after all and returned empty-handed.

In addition, "The Lion King", "Speed of Life and Death", and "Wood-Eddard" all won two statuettes, tied with "Pulp Fiction".

Compared with the news that Tom Hanks won the best actor for a second time, "Forrest Gump" defeated "Pulp Fiction" and "The Shawshank Redemption" and finally became the biggest topic of the 67th Oscars, which sparked heated discussions in all the media on the second day of the awards ceremony, and caused a lasting controversy for the next two decades.

It is generally believed that these three works are close in strength, and each other's wins and losses are very normal, and it is really too strange and abnormal for one work to win like this. Because no matter who these three works are, they do not show absolute dominance, this year is not like last year's "Schindler's List", which is outstanding, the three works are almost close in strength in every award, and every victory or defeat is unpredictable, let alone a work that has completed a sweep?

This kind of doubt has also become the biggest hot topic of discussion after the award ceremony.

But in fact, people ignore the fact that although the Oscar is authoritative, it is an award selected by an independent organization, which means that the Oscar has institutional attributes, which is determined by the taste, orientation and hobbies of the institution. This institution is the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This is also the most important point.

If you look back at the 48th Oscars, you will find that the fierce competition that year ended with the sweep of "Flying Over the Asylum", which won five heavyweight awards at that Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay, and the only heavyweight award that I regretted missing was the best editing by "Jaws".

This is the Oscars. The taste of the academy has always ended, and after their orientation makes a judgment and decision, the trend of the award will naturally be tilted and favored, and "Forrest Gump" meets the preferences of the academy and wins the hearts of the judges, so it achieves a complete victory, just like the "Flying Over the Asylum" back then.

Just as the social aesthetic orientation reflected in the box office of the movie, "Forrest Gump" received good praise and was warmly sought after by the audience, collecting $329 million in the United States, even beating the "Lion King"; And "Pulp Fiction" is known as a rare classic that changes the times and history, and public opinion has rushed to the peak, and the box office in the United States has repeatedly created miracles, winning $172 million at the box office, but there is still a huge gap that is difficult to reverse from "Forrest Gump".

And "The Shawshank Redemption", which is far behind at the box office, is far behind the two competitors in terms of influence and profundity, and it is far behind the two competitors in the starting stage, with only 28 million North American box office, even if the reputation is excellent, but the influence is too bad after all.

Although there is no direct connection between the Oscars and the North American box office, after all, many commercial popcorn movies can achieve super high box office, but the artistic value does not stand up to in-depth discussion; However, works such as "Forrest Gump" and "Pulp Fiction", which have profound artistic value and market potential, can often win big at the Oscars.

In other words, taking a step back, even if the artistic value of "The Shawshank Redemption" is really outstanding, its defeat is inevitable in the face of the perfect combination of art and commerce, "Forrest Gump" and "Pulp Fiction". Because how to achieve the elegant combination of business and art, this is the ultimate goal of the film industry.

At the same time, the pattern reflected by the box office is also the situation of "Pulp Fiction" and "Forrest Gump", the sword of "Pulp Fiction" is on the edge and full of personality, even if it has set off a frenzy in the whole society, it still can't withstand the "Forrest Gump" who sings the main theme.

Therefore, "Pulp Fiction" won the Best Original Screenplay with absolute strength, and then snatched the Best Editing Award from "Forrest Gump", showing the firm determination and fierce impact of changing the dynasty, but it is limited to this, because this is already the best affirmation of this non-mainstream work by the mainstream society - and at the same time, it is also the affirmation of the limit.

Quentin's defeat in the directing department can be regarded as an underdog, and among the five director nominees, Quentin is the most worthy of praise from a purely academic point of view. But alas, he is an outsider, a spoiler, a rebel, and with his defeat to Robert Zemeckis, the representative of the academy's mainstream, the rebellious road of "Pulp Fiction" has come to an end. And Hugo's failure to break through in the competition for Best Actor is the last signal and the last glimmer of hope.

However, compared with the failure of "Pulp Fiction", people seem to remember more of the empty-handed return of "The Shawshank Redemption", and many years later, countless netizens have pushed "The Shawshank Redemption" to the position of a masterpiece, thinking that this work is just like "Citizen Kane", a classic forgotten by the Oscars, and countless people are upset about this work.

It's a real irony.

Objectively speaking, "The Shawshank Redemption" is at most only a work on the same level as "Forrest Gump" and "Pulp Fiction", and if you really want to compare the overall completion and historical status of the work, the ranking of the three should be "Pulp Fiction", "Forrest Gump", and "The Shawshank Redemption". What is really suffocating is the failure of "Pulp Fiction", Quentin made a "Pulp Novel" that has never been done before, but it was abandoned by the conservative and traditional college judges because of its bold style and alternative form.

"Forrest Gump" is the work that is most in line with the Oscar aesthetics, with a biography, weightlifting, positive thoughts, grand pattern, and inspiration. Although this work is decent, the directorial skills are not as good as "pulp fiction", and the core idea is not as good as "The Shawshank Redemption", but the overall strength is the best, and the most important thing is that it completely meets the taste of the academy judges.

Therefore, even if history repeats itself, even if "Pulp Fiction" can snatch the Best Editing Award, it is "Forrest Gump" that wins in the end.

The reason why "The Shawshank Redemption" is praised as a masterpiece is because of the enlightenment of the ideas conveyed by the movie, the yearning for freedom and the persistence of dreams make the movie exude infinite charm; On the other hand, it is because of the film's bumpy journey: from being ignored by countless people, unknown to being nominated for an Oscar at the last moment, and finally falling short, the regrettable beauty brought by this unperfect ending makes people overexaggerate the wonderful journey of the work.

As a result, there was a situation twenty years later in which "The Shawshank Redemption" defeated the absolute classic masterpiece "The Godfather" and dominated the IMDB 250 list for ten years.

However, relatively speaking, the overall pattern of "The Shawshank Redemption" is not as atmospheric as "Forrest Gump", and the narrative is exquisite and not as good as "pulp fiction"; The most important thing is that although the ideological spirit is positive, but at that time the United States was in the recovery stage after the economic crisis, relatively speaking, "Forrest Gump" is the optimistic factor that society needs, and "pulp fiction" is the innovation that Oscar needs to encourage, and it is not surprising that "The Shawshank Redemption" has not been fruitful.

This is indeed a very ironic fact, which makes people laugh and cry.

Because those fans who pursue "The Shawshank Redemption", on the one hand, are questioning and disdainful of the Oscars; But on the other hand, it is undoubtedly blind to fight because Oscar did not give "Shawshank Redemption".

"Pulp Fiction" missed the Oscars, which is a historical inevitability, because independent films have not yet ushered in the best time to break through, and Quentin's maverick is too avant-garde for the 1995 Oscars; "The Shawshank Redemption" missed the Oscars, which is inevitable for the academy's aesthetics, because the college's style orientation has always loved the "Forrest Gump" style adult fairy tales.

If you question this result, it is not necessary. Because first of all, "Forrest Gump" is an excellent work, secondly, this is a work that is in line with the Oscar orientation, and secondly, this is a "game" that belongs to the academy, and the rules of the game are made by them.

To question the victory of "Forrest Gump" is to question the Oscar itself - and even disdain the Oscar, so why should "The Shawshank Redemption" rely on a little golden man that everyone disdains to prove itself? In this way, it is a matter of course that "The Shawshank Redemption" missed the Oscars, so why regret it?

The so-called golden mean has been perfectly played in "Forrest Gump", and Oscar, who is unwilling to break through the innovative choice of "pulp fiction", is also unwilling to conservatively and steadily choose Oscar, who chooses "The Shawshank Redemption", and finally chooses "Forrest Gump".

However, "Pulp Fiction" can still proudly raise its head, because they have opened up a whole new world in the confrontation with the conservative, regular, and academic academic academic judges, which is even more grand and difficult than last year's "Piano Don't Love" to create a history; Because they were in the confrontation with the masterpiece "Forrest Gump", the masterpiece of the academy's aesthetic representatives, they snatched the best editing award into their arms.

This is the biggest victory!

"Pulp Fiction" and "Forrest Gump" dedicated a great showdown, and "Pulp Fiction" persevered until the last moment, which also made "Forrest Gump" tremble all the time, extending the suspense to the end. But alas, "Forrest Gump" still had the last laugh and shot the final prey.

Perhaps, history should give "The Shawshank Redemption" a proof, which is indeed a masterpiece, but not a masterpiece; Perhaps, history should also give a proof to "pulp fiction", which is indeed a masterpiece, but also a classic.

Luckily, Hugo's butterfly wings gave Pulp Fiction a Best Original Screenplay and another Best Editing award.

Maybe "Forrest Gump" won the 67th Oscar, but the Oscar statuette is only a part of the film industry, and history will eventually give the three works "Forrest Gump", "Pulp Fiction", and "The Shawshank Redemption" their due status.