Damien Bona (1955–2012)

Inside Oscar 2 by Damien Bona (2002) chronicles the Academy Awards from 1995 to 2000. It is an excellent film reference source because it provides a useful guide in gaining an appreciation for the amount of money that is spent on advertising and publicity as part of the Oscar competition. Bona also discusses the campaigning strategy employed by the studios to win an Oscar and describes how the Academy Awards represent “The collective judgment at a particular point in time of several thousand people who work in, used to work in, or have some ties to, the film industry” (p. xii). Since demographically, “The average Oscar voter is politically liberal, well educated, and much better off financially than most Americans, [the author states that the Academy voters] tend to be drawn to movies that are aesthetically conservative, but which contain humanistic or uplifting attitudes” (p. xii). As a result, their votes do not always serve as a “mirror that reflects social, cultural, and political trends” (p. xii) in America. Inside Oscar 2 is a valuable resource in providing summary level insight into recent Academy Awards history.… (mere)