Among subjects receiving attention during this year’s Oscar season are the effects some prominent films might have (or might have had) on the world outside the red carpet: Slate wonders if an earlier release of Gus Van Sant’s Milk would have effectively encouraged California voters to turn down Proposition 8; the Chicago Tribune hopes that Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road will resurrect interest in Richard Yates’ outstanding novel from which the movie was adapted. Meanwhile, New York Times notes that while the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is becoming more artistic and elite, the hubbub surrounding its awards is as silly as ever.