TweetThis week I'm digging into Oscar themes past and present on ABCNews.com.
I chatted with Oscar experts Dave Karger, who runs Entertainment Weekly's Academy Awards blog, and Tom O'Niel, who runs the L.A. Times The Envelope blog.
Amongst the themes we discovered? This year, with every best picture nominee also taking a best director nod, is definitely the year of the helmer. In fact, Danny Boyle is a shoo in for Slumdog Millionaire, which is also the frontrunner for the best picture trophy.
In years past, we've seen the Oscars …

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Oscar Themes, Past and Present
ABCNews.com
February 2009
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2006: Politics as Unusual
Hollywood’s heavy hand played out at the 2006 Academy Awards, the year of the message movie.
Best picture winner “Crash” — which took three Oscars — tackled race relations and police brutality. The gay cowboy weeper “Brokeback Mountain” preached tolerance while taking three trophies (out of eight nominations), including best director and best adapted screenplay.
The war-torn “Syriana” — which earned George Clooney a best actor award — was all about foreign politics, while Clooney’s government witch-hunting-themed Edward R. …

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Oscar Themes, Past and Present
ABCNews.com
February 2009
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2008: Female Screenwriters Have Their Day
Another 2008 shocker? Four nods for female writers in the best screenplay and best adapted screenplay categories. Who could forget Diablo Cody’s irreverent acceptance for her winning “Juno”?
“That’s very rare — that was certainly a breakthrough last year,” O’Neil said. “Like directing, screenwriting is still a closed category that seems to shut out women. Very few women get nominations at all. But I don’t see things changing anytime soon. Everyone thought that this year, Mandy …

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Oscar Themes, Past and Present
ABCNews.com
February 2009
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By all accounts, “Slumdog Millionaire,” with its 10 nominations, is set to sweep the Oscars this year. In fact, it’s the front-runner to win best picture, which would make it the first film with a significant foreign language component to take the title.
“This year definitely has a more global, more international flavor,” Entertainment Weekly Oscar expert Dave Karger said. “But it’s also a very upbeat film. Both those elements are sort of a sign of the times, I think, with …