Every couple of years, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences does something so deeply screwy, with such earnest yet addled intentions, that those of us who care — and, yes, some of us do care — find ourselves doing a classic Danny Thomas spit-take.

This year, by announcing the institution in 2020 of a new Oscar category for “outstanding achievement in popular film,” the AMPAS board has outdone itself in muddying the waters of what a “good movie” even means. At the same time, the move reflects the uncomfortable reality of a medium splitting ever further in two, with a widening gap between movies that steamroller the senses and films that nurture the mind and soul.

It’s the art house versus the multiplex, in other words, and the latter has been getting the worst of it on the annual awards circuit for some time now. As the studios have become ever better at turning out FX-heavy franchise installments based on comic book characters and other corporate-owned intellectual properties, the only place to go find stories about, you know, people has been independent film. And, increasingly, television. Which is also part of the problem. But I’m getting ahead of myself.