Boyhood should have been named Best Picture at the 87th Academy Awards

Thanks to my opponent for a greatly rounded opening statement. I’d also like to thank him for his consideration of my unintentional forfeit. I promise not to be so careless in the future. In this round, I’ll avoid rebutting my opponent’s statements and instead continue my own arguments, saving all rebuttals for the final round. I will, however, like to address one quote for my opponents arguments: “A good movie must, at the end of the day, have a good plot. Boyhood tries to obscure and cover this up through the 12 year gimmick and unusual writing. However, after laying down the faults of this film, without the distractions, you will see the film as nothing more than a movie trying to be clever and different, but failing, creating a terrible film in the process.” This is inherently false. Firstly, the fact that a film has a good plot does not necessarily mean it’s a good movie. For example, I think we will all agree that the plot for Charles Dickins’ A Christmas Carol is very good. However, does this make every single adaption of it a good movie? No. Further aspects including acting, direction, dialogue, and innovativeness make a good movie. For example, 2001: A Space Odyssey has a very complex plot that’s not necessarily good because it ignores one of the key aspects of a plot: character development. However, despite the plot, the film is a landmark of cinema because of it’s innovation and direction. Boyhood’s 12 year gimmick is innovative. Furthermore, I’d like to address the fact that Boyhood does have a plot that goes from A to Z: growing up. While my opponent while undoubtedly argue that this is no plot, I’d like to use the standard 5 act plot set up most people are familiar with. 1. Exposition: We are introduces to Mason and his parents. Mason’s parents are divorced. The plot that will follow is growing up with divorced parents. 2. Rising Action: Single and needed to return to school, Mason’s mother moves to Huston. Because of the divorce, Mason’s mother remarries. However, a conflict is the fact that her husband is a narcissistic alcoholic. She divorces him and moves again. While this is going on, Mason continually sees his father, who slowly grows from being an immature parent in his late twenties to a standardized “castrated” (as he calls himself in the film) father in is early forties. As mason continues to age, his relationship with his parents continues to evolve, with him noticing much more of his mother’s problems along the way. Essentially, the rising action of the film is showing Mason’s own awareness as it develops over 12 years. 3. Turning Point: the “climax” of the movie happens at Mason’s graduation party, where his parents finally achieve a sort of peace that allows Mason to leave home. 4. The Falling Action: Mason’s father tells him he needs to keep pushing forward. Mason’s mother finally admits that she feels there should have been more in life. Both of these revelations affect Mason as he ventures off to college. 5. Resolution: At college, Mason realizes that life is nothing but a conglomerate of moments, and the only way to enjoy it is to live in the moment. This represent closure for him due to the fact that throughout the entire movie, Mason’s done nothing but avoid the moments. He chooses not to listen to his teachers, ignore the drama of his parents, and avoid feeling much. His realization that he needs to let the moment take him is his form of growing up. I could go further, but for the sake of time and characters I’ll stop here and wait to refute my opponent in the final round.