Did the late Heath Ledger truly deserve the Oscar for Best Male Supporting Role as the iconic Joker in the film “Batman: Dark Knight?” The question is not brought up because he did not deserve it. He took a familiar character and transformed the familiar into a twisted variation that was different from both the usual fun house version of the Joker and from the usual Heath Ledger role. Rather, the question is brought up because I’ve been hearing a lot of people wonder whether he received the Oscar simply because he died.
The Academy Awards has had it’s share of controversy over the years, although it might be fair to say that most of it has been dealt into two categories:
The first being that the winner is seemingly only loved and praised by the critics or people other than you. Last year, “No Country For Old Men” won best picture, yet the film was both boring and pretentious, rolling around in a pile of feces by the end. That said, boring and pretentious must be two beloved adjectives to the Oscars, due to the fact that the film “Titanic” won 11 awards.
The second category is where the winner has received the award not because they deserved it, but because they deserved it for an earlier film for which they did not win. For example, Russell Crowe took the Best Actor award for his work in “Gladiator,” even though he really deserved it for “A Beautiful Mind.” Another example would be Sean Penn, nominated for several awards including Best Actor for his role in “Dead Man Walking,” yet somehow Nicholas Cage won it that year. Penn would eventually go on to win Best Actor for his roles in “Mystic River” and “Milk.”
For a moment, it seemed as if Heath Ledger would fit into the second category, that nominated actor who deserved the award, but has been passed up. He was nominated for his role in the movie “Brokeback Mountain,” instead that one went to Forest Whitaker for his work in “The Last King of Scotland.” So now, two years later, Heath Ledger is nominated again for a new role and this time he wins, making up for his previous loss in 2006.
I wonder for a moment what it actually takes to earn an Oscar. Sometimes it seems as if the actor that wins truly was the best that year, whereas sometimes it seems as if the actor did his best on a movie three years ago, while that other guy did better this year. Personally, I don’t think there’s a way to figure out the exact equation, as in what kind of performance deserves an Oscar, but I think that it is possible to make a couple of guesses.
My guess is that the Motion Picture Academy likes it when actors appear in a role that breaks away from the traditional. A lot of actors get stereotyped for specific roles, or find themselves playing roles that are incredibly similar to each other. When the actor suddenly shows up in a role that completely flips expectations, then the possibility for receiving an Oscar goes up.
Just look at Forest Whitaker. His role in “The Last King of Scotland” was dramatically different from anything he had done before. Phillip Seymour Hoffman seemed like an entirely different person as Truman Capote, not to mention Jamie Foxx’s depiction of Ray Charles. And now we have Heath Ledger as the Joker, a completely different role from anything else I’ve seen him in.
Not everyone deserved his or her Oscar. Nor has everyone who deserved an Oscar received one, either. Heath Ledger deserved his.