12 Oscar-Winning Films That Did Not Age Well

Sandra Bullock won the Oscar as Best Actress for The Blind Side. She plays Leigh Anne Tuohy, a woman who, together with her husband Sean (Tim McGraw), adopts Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), a homeless Black teenager. While living under their roof, Michael improves his grades and becomes a football star, eventually making his way into the NFL. The film intends to be an inspirational rags-to-riches tale.

Although it was a big hit, some people took offense and their reasoning seems justified in retrospect. The Blind Side hauls out the “white savior” trope, with the Tuohys made to look like noble Caucasians who are directly responsible for the young Black man's success. Oddly, Michael Oher isn't the main character, Leigh Anne is. In other words, the story of the successful Black football player is filtered through the prism of the benevolent white woman who “gave” him the opportunity.

Adding to the bad look is the fact that the real Michael Oher doesn't have entirely nice things to say about the Tuohys. He claimed the couple never actually adopted him, instead duping him into signing a document that named them as his conservators. Under the terms of that document, they got rich off his story - thanks to a best-selling book, Leigh Anne's speaking engagements, and the Oscar-winning movie - while he got nothing. 

American Beauty was one of the biggest winners at the 72nd Academy Awards, winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen. Kevin Spacey also took home the award as Best Actor for his portrayal of Lester Burnham, an unhappily married man who lusts after his teenage daughter's best friend Angela (Mena Suvari). 

At the time, the movie played like a dark satire of suburban malaise and how it warps Lester's worldview. The Me Too movement and the child sex abuse scandals at Penn State University, and in the Catholic Church (as well as countless other high profile cases,) however, have changed the way we look at sexual predators. Lester's attempts to seduce the teenage Angela seem more disturbing than entertaining today, and it's a lot harder to muster any empathy for an adult man hoping to use his influence to hook up with a teenage girl. 

American Beauty also features nudity among the adolescent characters. Suvari appears topless in one scene, as does Thora Birch, who plays Lester's daughter. That technique would be heavily criticized now, viewed as needless exploitation of minors.

The romantic drama Call Me By Your Name was the winner of the Best Adapted Screenplay award at the Oscars. Timothee Chalamet stars as Elio, a 17-year-old living with his parents in Italy. He strikes up a sexual relationship with Oliver (Armie Hammer), his father's adult research assistant. The movie portrays Elio's erotic awakening with Oliver as a beautiful thing.

Unsurprisingly, that turned the stomachs of some viewers. Call Me By Your Name never acknowledges the moral ickiness of an adult choosing to participate in a sexual affair with a minor. Instead, viewers are asked to be touched by the bond between the characters. In real life, teenagers who engage in such relationships with adults often go on to experience feelings of violation and confusion. The movie sidesteps that inconvenient fact.

A second criticism came from members of the LGBTQ+ community, who disliked that director Luca Guadagnino hired two straight actors for a gay love story. The filmmaker somewhat weakly attempted to defend himself to The Independent, saying:

If I have to cast what people think is the real thing for a role, I wouldn’t be able to cast. I cannot cast a gay man to play Oliver. I have to cast Oliver to play Oliver because the identities of gay men are as multiple as the flowers in the realm of earth. 

It was considered a major upset when Crash beat out odds-on favorite Brokeback Mountain for Best Picture in 2005. The movie, which looks at racism and bigotry through the interconnected stories of multiple characters, also took home the trophies for Best Original Screenplay and Best Editing. At the time, it was very divisive. Some critics felt the movie offered poignant observations about prejudice, while others thought it reflected the limited views of its white director, Paul Haggis, as opposed to reflecting the real experiences of people of color in the United States.

That latter view has come to dominate in the years since Crash won the Oscar. The Black Lives Matter movement, in particular, has called attention to race-related injustices in the United States. Names like George Floyd and Trayvon Martin have come to represent the horrific realities of racism. Crash's semi-sunny view - which envisions a world where nobody is ever hurt too badly by bigotry - now seems shallow and naive at best, downright offensive at worst.

Even star Thandiwe Newton agrees the film doesn't hold up, saying it “neutralized the very real rage that African-American people feel.” She also objected to a redemptive arc for Matt Dillon's racist white cop, who sexually assaults her character, saying it was “something even at the time I didn’t buy into.”

Green Book was a three-time Oscar winner. It took home the trophies for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali. Based on a true story, the film is about a racist white nightclub bouncer named Frank Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen) who is hired to drive Ali's character, African-American pianist Don Shirley, during his concert tour of the deep South. They form an unlikely friendship that causes Vallelonga to drop his bigoted views.

Although you can certainly look at Green Book as an uplifting story about a racist who learns to change his ways, doing so requires you to overlook the “white savior” trope that has long plagued Hollywood movies. Aside from Vallelonga repeatedly getting Shirley out of potentially dangerous situations, the story focuses on his transformation and his journey, rather than that of the accomplished Black man. Many people rightly cried fowl over making a white man the central figure in a Black man's story. Running parallel to that is the portrayal of Shirley as a stereotypical “Magical Negro” who helps the white guy become a better person.

Don Shirley's family members are among those displeased by Green Book. They resented the movie inferring that Shirley was estranged from his family and suggesting he didn't participate in activism within the Black community. His brother Donald called it “a symphony of lies.”

The Crying Game, which won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar, became a sleeper hit in 1992, thanks to a clever marketing campaign that asked viewers not to spoil the story's major plot twist. That plot involves IRA member Fergus (Stephen Rea) fulfilling a promise to check in on a kidnapped British soldier's girlfriend. He ends up falling in love with the woman, Dil, played by Jaye Davidson. 

The twist Miramax didn't want spoiled is that Dil is transgender. This is revealed during the start of a love scene, wherein she disrobes and is shown to have male genitalia. Fergus responds by running to the bathroom and vomiting. Although Fergus's love for Dil eventually wins out, The Crying Game has been criticized for using trans identity as a plot twist. As trans writer Na.tasha Tr.oop pointed out, “Dil has no male identity. She exists onscreen and on page as a woman except for one crucial moment.” That moment of course being the big revelation. At no other point in the story is Dil viewed as male, making the twist come off as a cheap gimmick to many trans viewers.

Fergus's reaction similarly earned some scorn, and it comes off even worse today, when our societal understanding of transgender people is more progressive than it was in 1992. Him vomiting in disgust now comes off as deeply transphobic and potentially sends the message that transgender identity is something to be repulsed by.