NEW YORK  — In the Coen brothers’ recent 1950s Hollywood satire, “Hail, Caesar!” Ralph Fiennes’ ascot-wearing British director Laurence Laurentz is helming a stuffy drawing room drama full of tuxedoed men and ballroom-gowned women.

The movie, “Merrily We Dance,” Laurentz declares is a “prestige picture.” But it’s clear that the Coens think so-called “prestige pictures” can be just as much a joke as any other type of movie. In its day, “Merrily We Dance” would have been destined for Oscars.

Lately, the narrow parameters of movies celebrated by the Academy Awards in the best picture category haven’t been quite so funny. Self-serious prestige films have long found a ready seat at the Oscars, while films starring or directed by minorities have struggled to. There are many factors behind what’s led to two straight years of all-white acting nominees, but one is the stifling limitation of what gets considered an “Oscar movie.”

What frequently guides a movie toward a best picture nomination or a star toward an acting nod is a confluence of factors that frequently have only so much to do with quality. Influential is how a movie is released (a prominent festival rollout can pay big dividends), how much support a movie has from its distributor (the parties and advertisements that go into Oscar campaigns are expensive) and how willing the talent is to promote themselves.

“It’s a racket,” said Viggo Mortensen, who was nominated in 2008 for David Cronenberg’s “Eastern Promises.”