Reply #12: I can explain how Sandra Bullock won her Oscar.

[slampoet]

It all comes down to the idea that the Oscars have a tendency to spread the Oscars around and also like to recognize veteran actors when it is "Their turn" to win especially after a long career or after they have been passed up for movies they should have won the Oscar for in years past (think Russel Crowe getting the award for Gladiator when he really should have won for The Insider the year before, or think of Jeff Bridges who should have won for the Last Picture Show or Fearless or a dozen other films where he was better than this year)


First off in the nomination process a few deserving actresses were passed up for nominations which isn't so bad since you can only pick 5. I personally thought Maya Rudolph should have been nominated for Away We Go (though she wouldn't have won either.)

Second two of the best actress nominees were first timers, Carey Mulligan and Gabourey Sidibe. First time nominees can win for best supporting actress but rarely win for lead actress especially when they are young like these two.

Next is Helen Mirren who has won an Oscar recently and she was nominated for a film that no one actually saw. So she had very little chance of winning.

Finally is Meryl Streep who has been nominated 16 times and won twice. She was also almost a supporting actress in Julie and Julia. I loved here in this but she has had a lot of recognition.



So by process of elimination here is Sandra Bullock with her flawed Southern accent winning the Oscar. Not really the best performance, but it was the choice the voters made given their particular prejudices.