In honor of this week’s airing of the 86th Academy Awards, it seemed only relevant that a tribute be given — not to the award winners, they’re getting plenty of that right now — but to those films which gave the greatest gift of all: library love! That’s right, after a thorough investigation, I have discovered that not only have there been a TON of movies featuring/mentioning/hinting at librarians and their book domains, but many have gone on to receive a nod (or even a golden statue) for their work. And while it’s good to be realistic in the sense that these movies didn’t make it to the Oscar round solely on their use of a bibliophile or two…it sure didn’t hurt 😉
Here’s a look at some past Oscar winners/nominees that feature a library, librarian or archivist that encapsulated or reinvented the bookworm stereotype for the big screen.
Citizen Kane (1941)
Winner (1942): Best Writing/Original Screenplay
Nominated: Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White, Best Sound, Recording, Best Film Editing & Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture
Orson Welles. Journalism. Rosebud. And a woman resembling a prison guard rather than a librarian. Georgia Backus portrays one of the most severe representations of the profession ever projected onto a cinema screen.
It’s A Wonderful Life (1946)
Nominated (1947): Best Picture
1940s stereotype: On the left – a happy, youthful woman talking to her sweetie on the phone. On the right – librarian slash “old maid.” For all the boldness and spunk Donna Reed brought to her role as Mary, George Bailey’s wife, she threw all of that out the window when portraying her alter ego of mousy, husbandless, librarian Mary during the alternate reality sequence where George wish he’d never been born.
George Bailey: Please, Clarence, where’s my wife? Tell me where my wife is.
Clarence: You’re not going to like it, George.
George Bailey: Where is she? What happened to her?
Clarence: She became an old maid. She never married…
George Bailey: [desperate] Where is she? WHERE IS SHE?
Clarence: She’s… she’s just about to close up the library!
-IMDB
The Music Man (1962)
Winner (1963): Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment
Nominated: Best Picture, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Costume Design, Best Sound & Best Film Editing
Smooth-talking con man meets prim and proper librarian who sees through his charm…several adorable song and dance numbers ensue! Ultimately the musical bookworm wins her man (let’s face it, he didn’t stand a chance after she started dancing on a bench in her own library!).
All The President’s Men (1976)
Winner (1977): Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration & Best Sound
Nominated: Best Picture, Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Best Director & Best Film Editing
Two now-infamous journalists connecting the dots from a Watergate burglary to the destruction of a presidency seek information from the best possible source: The library! When the White House librarian gets caught answering questions via phone, Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) pore through information in the Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress. Libraries at the Movies offers an in-depth review of this particular film and the part played by the grandiose location.
Sophie’s Choice (1982)
Winner (1983): Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated: Best Writing/Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium, Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Music/Original Score
Switching over to the Guybrarian stereotypes, this description from Reel Librarian paints a vivid picture: “[John Rothman is an] uncaring library clerk who ridicules Polish immigrant Sophie (Meryl Streep), who mistakenly asks for information on “Emil Dickens” when she means “Emily Dickinson.” He has no concept of polite behavior; he shouts, argues, ridicules, and basically causes an already emotionally and physically frail women to fall down on the floor in a faint. His oily hair, glasses, and bow tie complete his image of anal retentiveness. It is important that he remains behind his high desk; he cannot be removed from that desk, or his image as the snooty, unbending keeper of privileged knowledge would be diluted.
Ghostbusters (1984)
Nominated (1985): Best Effects/Visual Effects, Best Music/Original Song
- Right Image Source: http://bit.ly/1dVrQBU
There’s a ghost in the library! Who you gonna call….well, you know. The Library Ghost (aka The Grey Lady, Gray Lady, Librarian Ghost) was the ghost of librarian Eleanor Twitty and the very first ghost that the Ghostbusters encountered. She was a minor character in the first movie and a major character of the Library level of the video game.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Nominated (1995): Best Picture
A powerful film with a heart-wrenching library component (SPOILERS AHEAD): While serving time at Shawshank State Penitentiary, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is assigned to the prison library to aide elderly inmate/librarian Brooks Hatlen (James Whitmore). Several years later, Brooks is freed on parole, but unable to adjust to the outside world after 50 years in prison, he hangs himself. Andy receives a library donation that includes a recording of The Marriage of Figaro. In a famous scene, he plays an excerpt over the public address system in the prison yard, resulting in his receiving solitary confinement.
The Mummy (1999)
Nominated (2000): Best Sound
I’m just going to let this movie clip speak for itself.
Librarians are wonderful, magical creatures…that every so often accidentally knock over rows of bookshelves. Lots of bookshelves.
9 (2005)
Nominated: Best Animated Short
This beautifully dark, post-apocolyptic world overrun by robots features a scene where sentient rag dolls (named after numbers) find the ruins of a library, which still contains written knowledge…and twins 3 & 4 who serve as the last remaining archivists. When 9 asks who they are and how they got there, 7 responds: “They’ve been hiding here: lost in the past… looking for answers.”
The Book Thief (2013)
Nominated: Best Original Score
My favorite book-turned-motion picture, where protagonist Liesel Meminger’s thirst for knowledge and desire to read leads her to “borrow” books from her former employer’s own personal library, thus earning her the nickname “The Book Thief.”
Note: This short description doesn’t do justice to the book, so do yourself a favor and borrow a copy from your local library!
Librariotypes 