Muriels Hall of Fame, Class of 2016: The Postgame Show!

Well, that was fun. Plenty of worthy inductees, along with a few surprises (Brief Encounter gets inducted in its first year on the ballot!), and another female director getting in this year. So that’s something, eh?

That said, I was a bit taken aback by the lack of diversity among our inducted films. For the first time, every one of our inductees hailed from the USA or Western Europe. True, Polanski is Polish by birth, but Repulsion was produced in the UK, in English, with a French leading lady. And the Ukraine-born Deren shot Meshes of the Afternoon in California. Hell, we didn’t even pick any Japanese movies.

So, what happened? Part of me wants to chalk this up to being a fluke, and that we’ll be back to choosing some more far-flung titles next year when Andrei Rublev (and also Daisies and Black Girl) become eligible. That said, there’s another part of me that wants to figure out a way to ensure diversity in our selections in the future. But how to do that without making the system too convoluted? I could split up the ballot into different regions- I toyed with separate nominees for the USA, Western Europe, and the rest of the world- but that seems like a huge pain to me. Hell, I even briefly considered narrowing the eligibility window somewhat, since voters may be more familiar with world cinema titles from the 1970s and 1980s. But I know what would happen- we’d pick a bunch of Kubrick and Coppola and Scorsese and Lynch movies, because that’s where our tastes lie.

And I get that. The great majority of Muriels Hall of Fame voters are American, and for most American cinephiles, films from this country play a central role in our cinematic education. So when we’re tasked with selecting classic movies, we think American movies first, followed by the films from the countries that have gotten the most attention in the US – the UK, France, and Japan. And we’ve honored movies from these four nations almost exclusively, with 47 out of our 54 inductees, with little consideration for other cinematic powerhouses like India, Germany, and the Soviet Union.

Is this really a problem? I don’t know. But if it is, how can we solve it? I think the key is that to get more voters from around the world to participate. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be that simple. After all, the Muriels Hall of Fame is still part of the Muriel Awards, and in order to participate in Hall of Fame voting, one must also be a Muriels voter, which requires that voters comply with American (specifically NYC) release schedules. And getting international voters who are willing and able to do this would be tricky. Frankly, I’m surprised and grateful that our handful of non-American voters are so flexible in this regard.

Anyway, as I said before, maybe I’m worrying about nothing. Maybe the situation will sort itself out, and we’ll finally get around to honoring some more diverse classics in the future (can you believe Battleship Potemkin has never even made the final ballot?). Hell, we even nominated movies from Poland, Iran, and South Korea this year, so at least some people are thinking the same way I am. All I know is that I’ll keep on stumping for masterpieces like The House Is Black as long as it’s within my power to do so.

And while I continue to be impossible to please in some regards, I have nothing but respect and admiration for everyone who has volunteered to participate in this little project again this year. Thank you to our 2016 Muriels Hall of Fame voters:

Jason Alley
Danny Baldwin
Kent M. Beeson
Josh Bell
Andrew Bemis
Scott W. Black
Danny Bowes
Paul Clark
Dennis Cozzalio
Ari Dassa
Philip Dyess-Nugent
Jim Emerson
James Frazier
Luke Gorham
Jaime Grijalba
Glenn Heath Jr.
Sam Juliano
Adam Lemke
Benjamin Lim
Craig D. Lindsey
Sam C. Mac
Willow Maclay
Jeff McMahon
Jason Overbeck
Cole Roulain
Jason Shawhan
Alice Stoehr
Hedwig van Driel
Scott von Doviak
Bryce Wilson
George Wu

See you this winter!