Years ago, I invented a system of astrology based on what movie won the Best Picture Oscar for the year you were born. (It's more like Chinese astrology than Western astrology: you share your personality with an entire year's worth of people, instead of just a month's worth. But in Oscarology, the signs never repeat. Your year is special and unique.)
The Skeptical Surfer recently asked me about Oscarology, and I realized I've never blogged about it. I've discussed it in more than one discussion group and bulletin board (my favorite response: someone asked me what had won for 1991 and 1992, and when I said it was "Silence of the Lambs" and "Unforgiven," she replied, "No wonder the kids are so weird!"). But I've never mentioned it here.
So let's play! Tell me what year you were born, and I'll tell you all about your personality based on what won the Oscar for that year. (Assuming I've seen the movie, that is.)
I'll get the ball rolling with my own reading.
Birth year: 1961.
Best Picture: West Side Story.
Analysis: Although I tend to feel like an outsider in almost any group, I am very concerned with communicating and with making connections and forming bridges with/between people who seem unalterably opposed. Music and dancing are central to my life and identity. I have a somewhat tough exterior, but I dance like a big sissy boy and am as queer as a three-dollar bill.
So what's your sign, baby?
Oh, and for the record: Astrology doesn't work. It flat-out doesn't work. There are many spiritual beliefs -- such as the belief in God -- that, while highly implausible, can't be definitely disproven. Astrology is not one of them. It makes testable claims; the claims have been tested; the claims have been consistently and without a doubt shown not to work at all.
Just so we're clear.
oooh - excellent system - 1963 and 1989 please!
Posted by: shocolate | January 04, 2008 at 10:31 AM
I bet my pants that Oscarology is slightly less random than astrology, for the simple fact that the Oscars are an actual human event, while the stars' impact on us is miniscule at most (at least, in astrologically recent times).
Then again, my year is 1983, whose best picture winner was Gandhi, and any system that correlates a schmuck like me with a visionary like him is probably a failure.
Posted by: John | January 04, 2008 at 10:42 AM
OK, 1968. Oliver! Never seen it.
Posted by: Louis Doench | January 04, 2008 at 11:20 AM
1978....though the movie is Annie Hall which makes me a bit nervous...I don't like Woody Allen at all.
Posted by: Stacey C. | January 04, 2008 at 11:44 AM
LOL - "Lawrence of Arabia"! My husband gets "Around the World in 80 Days," which fits me more than him...
Posted by: Deirdré Straughan | January 04, 2008 at 12:02 PM
Does this system use what won the Oscar in that year, or what film from that year won the Oscar (in the ceremony during the next year)?
I'm a youngin'.
1982.
I'll even save you the trouble of looking up what film it is.
In the 54th Academy Awards ceremony, taking place in 1982, the award for Best Picture went to Chariots of Fire.
In the 55th Academy Awards ceremony taking place in 1983, where the films being judged were from 1982, the award for Best Picture went to Ghandi. (Hey! I actually saw that film! Had to watch it in World Cultures II class. Most of the rest of the class slept during it [literally], but I enjoyed it.)
Posted by: c4bl3fl4m3 | January 04, 2008 at 12:19 PM
How intriguing. 1970. Let me check... Patton. What the..
No way. Go back to Chinese astrology. At least I get a decent creature. Wait a minute. I'm a fucking dog. Man! 1970 sucked.
Posted by: hoverFrog | January 04, 2008 at 12:20 PM
1976- Rocky. Huh. Do I like to go through life punching large hunks of frozen meat?
Posted by: Alycia | January 04, 2008 at 12:46 PM
1964 - My Fair Lady. I most closely resemble her Before rather than her After.
Posted by: Noxx | January 04, 2008 at 01:26 PM
1980, "Ordinary People", which I've never seen or even heard of before this, and which right away doesn't sound very applicable to me. Oh well.
Posted by: Steph | January 04, 2008 at 01:40 PM
Now I am depressed -- Best Picture for 1954 "On the Waterfront" -- "I coulda been a contenda" ???? Yuck
Posted by: Nicole | January 04, 2008 at 02:44 PM
Bridge on the River Kwai!
Confrontational, purpose driven, stubborn and yet, realizes that actually going to war over a goal is ultimately futile.
I like it!
Posted by: newbie atheist | January 04, 2008 at 04:33 PM
Hmm. I like this idea, but your Oscar-based descriptions could benefit from some more "Forer effect" vagueness if you're really gonna sell it. (Anyone curious about the Forer effect can click my name below for a link about it, since Greta Christina has disallowed links in posts due to spammers.)
For my birth year, 1967, In the Heat of the Night:
You often feel like you don't fit well in your surroundings, but you press ahead with what you need to do. You care about your reputation, but you care about doing the right thing more. While you have some prejudices and preconceptions of your own, you do your best to overcome them and don't put up with the prejudices of others. Because of this, you are capable of surprising people who might expect less of you. On the other hand, at times you have had serious doubts about whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You try not to see complicated issues in black and white, but sometimes you can't help it because the sharp contrasts stare you right in the face.
[excuse me while I extract my tongue from my cheek]
Posted by: G Felis | January 04, 2008 at 09:16 PM
1959 - Ben Hur
What does that mean for me?
here's some info about the film:
It was a re-make of MGM's own 1926 silent film of the same name, and the first and only re-make to have won the Best Picture award. Both films were based on or inspired by General Lew Wallace's novel (first published in 1880) about the rise of Christianity.
Posted by: OzAtheist | January 04, 2008 at 10:59 PM
1985 Out of Africa. And I am currently living in East Africa. WOW.
Posted by: j | January 04, 2008 at 11:24 PM
"From Here to Eternity." I don't even want to say what year, because it basically means that I'm older than dirt, but that's the film. Umm, I have a propensity for having sex on beaches? I'm basically an immoral, degenerate putz but when I'm attacked by the Japanese I rise above my shortcomings and find my inner hero?
If my parents had gotten busy just a couple of months earlier, I'd be "The Greatest Show on Earth." I don't even like to think about what that would mean.
Posted by: Jon Berger | January 05, 2008 at 09:04 AM
I'm a VERY youngin'. 1990 is my year.
Not having ever paid attention to the Oscars, I'm sure to find this extra interesting.
This is a brill idea, Greta. Major props to you for it.
Posted by: Penny | January 05, 2008 at 09:19 AM
1986
Posted by: yogurtbacteria | January 05, 2008 at 11:44 AM
1972 - Godfather - hee, hee :D
His was hilarious too: 1958 - Gigi
(there's a thing, I could calculate how many man I'd attract :P)
Fantastic idea this, all those winners! :D
Posted by: Agnes | January 05, 2008 at 12:51 PM
I got The Last Emperor, 1987. I thought that film was pretty weird, I kept not paying attention and I got bored about halfway through. I hope that doesn't describe what people think of me.
Posted by: lozzy | January 05, 2008 at 01:01 PM
I am apparently A Man For All Seasons, as are Laura Upstairs and Linus's Helper Monkey.
A rather amazing film, actually -- and the only reason I even saw it was so I could understand my "oscarology" sign! I don't identify with Sir Thomas More's religious fervor, naturally, but there's no denying his integrity. Dude was hard core, and that I will always respect.
Posted by: Nurse Ingrid | January 05, 2008 at 02:34 PM
I've never seen the movie for my year (1985)--Out Of Africa. This is a really fun idea, BTW.
Posted by: Ashley M. | January 05, 2008 at 04:33 PM
Accessing... accessing...
It's going to take me a day or two to finish all of these. Communing with the Spirit of the Oscars takes time, you know. But I am having more fun than a barrel of monkeys with it. (And it's not too late to chime in with your birth year, if you haven't done so already.)
Posted by: Greta Christina | January 06, 2008 at 12:16 AM
1988! (I like chinese astrology, because I'm a dragon.)
Posted by: keely | January 06, 2008 at 11:31 AM
Anyone born after 1980 (you young whipper snappers) could also gain some supernatural (i.e. made up) insight from the Razzie Awards for Worse picture. My eldest daughter gets Showgirls from 1995, the second eldest gets The Postman (1997) and the twins get Burn Hollywood Burn (1998) all of which were indeed dire movies.
Posted by: hoverFrog | January 06, 2008 at 03:13 PM
Hey I like c4bl3fl4m3's method. I was born in 1981 so if I use the movie listed as Best Picture 1981 it's Chariots of Fire, but if I use Best Picture 1980 on account of the ceremony took place in 1981 then it's Raging Bull. I think there should be some kind of chart that takes into account what cult classics came out in your year for this. Road Warrior came out in '81 didn't it?
Posted by: Alex | January 06, 2008 at 07:38 PM