The Geographic Divide of Oscar Films
The dynamism of media and nominations for the Oscars has stirred controversy regarding who exactly is represented in this widely known event. The ‘Geographic Divide of Oscar Films’ is a visualization map that analyzes the specific location of movie trailer views via Youtube for these movies, engaging a geographical component of these films that would have otherwise not been encountered. The cast and backgrounds depicted in the movies themselves dictate the popularity of where and who is paying the most attention to these films.
The visualization tool allows users to interactively scroll through the multitude of movies nominated, and designates a region where the movie is ‘popular’ in. Because some areas in the US like New York have much higher populations, in order to make sure the maps indicated regional interest, the tool was able to calculate what percentage of all US views they constituted.
I found the tool extremely enlightening because it reflects a focused and usually hidden basis for the nominations of the Oscars that is difficult to visualize. The information looks at whether the county’s viewing habits were higher or lower than the average of the rest of America.
Link: https://pudding.cool/2017/02/oscars_so_mapped/
- Fiona Ho (fh2347)
