10 Reasons Black Panther Shouldn't Win Best Picture

7. It Would Be A Win For Diversity, But Not For Art

Celebrating diversity is a wonderful thing, especially if it can transpire into well-earned awards success, but in the case of Black Panther, a Best Picture win would feel more like a political statement than the deserved feting of the genuine best film of the year (though is Best Picture ever really the year's best film?).

Moonlight, for instance, was a film about the queer black experience that won Best Picture because of its artistic triumph, and few sensible, forward-thinking people would argue that it only picked up the award for the sake of political correctness.

Giving Black Panther Best Picture would be an earnest but misguided move simply because it would forget the entire purpose of awarding Best Picture in the first place: to celebrate the "best" film of the year, not the one that best allows voters to pat themselves on the back.

The Oscars do have a history of political award-giving - who can forget Sean Penn beating Mickey Rourke for Best Actor in 2009 as a protest against the anti-gay Proposition 8 legislation? - but when a desire to be diverse trumps the desire to foreground great art, it only serves to further de-legitimise the already-crumbling "authority" the Academy Awards hold.