The Nominees and Snubs Understanding the causes for critique and celebration
By: Nikki, Year 13
The Oscars are one of Hollywood’s biggest awards events, where many talented members of the film industry are celebrated. The Oscars, also known as the Academy Awards, are considered to be one of the most prestigious award ceremonies in the global film industry. This year’s event is set to take place on March 11th, and is to be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel. Each year fans and critics alike spark online discourse concerning the nominations. Some of these debates are fueled by personal opinion, and others highlight possible biases among Academy members.
There has been a lot of controversy surrounding the nominations, including the categories of Best Director and Best Actress. 2023’s most popular film, ‘Barbie,’ was nominated for Best Picture, but to the disappointment of many fans, director Greta Gerwig and lead actress Margot Robbie were not included in the nominations for Best Director and Best Actress. After the major success of Barbie, Gerwig was the first female solo director to ever surpass $1 billion in global ticket sales, making her a seemingly obvious candidate for the Best Director category. Many were shocked and outraged at the director’s snub, claiming it was a sexist move. The Oscars have faced criticism on countless occasions for their sexism. A study conducted by the Women's Media Center found that between 2006 and 2015, only 19% of non-acting Oscar nominations were given to women, and only 4% were given to women of color. The exclusion of Gerwig and Robbie from their respective categories suggests the Oscar’s have perhaps not progressed as far from their history of sexism as people may think.
However, there are many nominations that the world should be celebrated. The conversation surrounding the Oscar nominations tends to focus on the snubs, overshadowing the many well-deserved nominations of people from underrepresented groups who do not often receive recognition. For instance, Lily Gladstone, starring in Martin Scorsese’s new film, ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ is the first Native American woman to have ever been nominated for Best Actress. America Ferrera, a Latina woman, was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in ‘Barbie.’ Only two Latina women have ever previously won an award in this category. These nominations mark a major milestone in the history of the Oscars, and are hopefully the beginning of more recognition of women of colour in Hollywood.
The issue with lack of diversity and representation across different Hollywood accolades is not only with the Oscars. The Golden Globes, which is organised by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), faced criticism in 2021 when it was revealed that the HFPA had had no black members in almost two decades. In 2020, the BAFTA awards also faced criticism for all 49 victors of the awards being white, despite 40% of nominees being of ethnic groups. This demonstrates how widespread the issue of lack of representation is in Hollywood.
The film industry is constantly evolving, and in recent years Hollywood is finally beginning to celebrate underrepresented groups who have played a significant part in film history. This hopefully suggests a major shift towards inclusivity and diversity in storytelling and filmmaking. While there is still progress to be made, this is a positive step in the right direction for the global film industry.
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