I think the Academy has explained clearly what the category means. And, as I think I showed with my examples above, they’ve been consistent in delineating between the two categories in recent years. If they made Barbie an “Original” screenplay now, that would be the departure from the Academy’s rules and customs.

I think turtlenecks are a tough thing to pull off.  That’s a lot of fabric, all one color, all very clingy.

It’s adapted because it’s based on a book, not because it’s based on a real person’s life.

My sense is that the Oscars has become more strict about defining the category in recent years, probably because so much of our entertainment now is based on existing IP.  All the examples you cite are at least 20 years old, and some (especially Sergeant York) much older.

Lydia Tar isn’t a real person.

First of all, Oppenheimer doesn’t get to be in the Original category —it’s adapted. But that’s not because it’s based on a real person’s life. It’s because it’s based on the book American Prometheus.  

I think that’s a stretch. Sure, anyone can play with Barbie however they like, just like any toy. But Barbie’s usual character traits are set forth in endless toy commercials, as well as tons of cartoon shows and direct-to-DVD movies over the years.

I think the category you propose would be hard to administer in practice. Is, say, The Dark Knight an original story under your framework? It is not adapted from a single source material, and you can’t point to any specific comic and say, “The movie is an adaption of _____.”  But it obviously uses characters that…

I agree with you.

I think that’s basically right. I also think alt-right celebrity provides a world that feels more insulated from failure.

Don’t worry about it. BreadnMaters dismissed me for making the same basic comment you did — no one’s objecting to snark, but to snark for snark’s sake.

To be fair, Rodgers got through his first five minutes of his Jeopardy hosting gig without tearing his Achilles tendon, so he did have more success there than he’s had at football recently.

One weird phenomenon is that no one can seem to be a little bit Trumpy. There are so many people like Chapelle, or Elon Musk, or Rudy Giuliani, or Lara Logan, who at one point seemed to have normal-ish views of the world. Maybe they were skeptical about COVID lockdowns (Musk) or seemed too deferential to the military…

If anyone wants to start some shit with her, she makes sure they didgeridon’t.

“No thanks to the plane, many of us are still ALIVE.”

These last few episodes have been so much better than the goofier early episodes. Fargo (both the movie and the show) certainly has funny elements, but it works best when it feels like characters are being propelled towards conflict and violence. I’ll take grimly determined Dot any day over the human cartoon character…

Would you accept old-timey “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun?” If so, Bioshock: Infinite has you covered:

Was there someone here arguing that snark as a whole is terrible, and has no place in popular journalism?  Or did you just want to drop some names you know?

Also, Avengers: Endgame came out in 2019. Unless the writer’s six years old, it seems weird to characterize that as some bygone era.

Also, as someone who likes Steven Yeun, I don’t think the success of Thunderbolts is going to hang on his presence or absence.