Take That, Mundanes!

So, the dire predictions that the Academy would never give the best film award to something made by a fat bloke from New Zealand whose main audience is 'engineers called Dave' turned out to be wrong. Still, had anything else won the 'best film', the Oscars would have ended up with roughly the same credibility as the Mercury Music Prize.

It's the first time a fantasy or science-fiction film has won the Best Film award. 2001, A Clockwork Orange, ET and Star Wars all managed to get nominated, but never won anything but consolation prizes like 'best special effects'. It's a belated recognition that these genres are now part of the cinematic mainstream. It's a contrast to the world of books where sadly SF is still confined to the ghetto.

You don't want to see the alternative timeline, where they gave the award to 'Seabiscuit'. Those Los Angeles Nerd Riots were a terrible thing.