The beauty of Ledger's nomination isn't so much that he's receiving posthumous accolade but that 6 years ago if you asked most people if he would be nominated for an Oscar most would have laughed in your face because he was mostly a "teen" actor. In the last three years he matured and was actually taking good roles, got an Oscar nomination and even worked with Gilliam before his death.
The odds are stuck against him for sure, hype or no hype. But the biggest gist of my defense is that the movie as a "whole" should be respected in the same breath of say a Connan McCarthy book adaptaton. It should be about the acting purely, if he can convey The Joker's delusions as a dispenser of some sort of chaotic anarchy with no remorse towards law, order and structure then he should get his due. Filmmaking and acting like any kind of art is ultimately a practice of manpulating the viewer, if the audience feels convinced about his performance then I don't see why he's not worthy of an Oscar. |