The Look of Snub

It's been a full day since the Oscar nominations, and I have to admit that when I first heard them, I was more than just upset. I was angry. My second favorite film of the year, as well as many others' favorite, The Dark Knight, was left out of the Best Picture race along with Christopher Nolan for Best Director (which to me is even more hurtful). I reacted to the nominees with that blind anger and thinking that the Academy surely got the whole thing wrong with a nomination going for The Reader. But now, I've calmed down and done a little thinking, and I've tried to look at this situation objectively, and I've noticed a few things.

People are really coming out and bashing The Reader as an undeserving film that stole the Best Picture slot away from The Dark Knight. I'm actually going to come out and say that people are unfairly attacking The Reader. However, I believe they're attacking this film for the wrong reasons. People shouldn't complain only about it's Best Picture selection when there are a lot more reasons to dislike this film. People also attack the subject matter (which will always be true) and that fact that the credited producers, Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella, died before they saw the film. Those who say that influenced people should also take a look in the mirror and ask the same thing about Ledger. I wrote in my review for the film that I immediately disliked it for having direction that was bloated, writing that was stale and acting, apart from Winslet, that was stiff. I don't like this film being nominated for Best Picture just because it took the place of another film. I don't like it because I don't like it, and I haven't dug deeper within me to pull out some new found disgust.

Yet, while the overlooking of The Dark Knight is sad to many fans around the world, there are some things that can be looked to as great positives. I know the technical categories are usually ones that people don't care about, but I do because some of them represent some risks taken to point out the great elements in this movie. Wally Pfister's cinematography is no risk because there was universal praise for his shadowy lighting of the Chicago streets that I actually think will win him the Oscar.

However, there are nominations it received that prove a great leap. For instance, the Art Direction Oscar usually recognizes period pieces or fantasy films, but rarely do they honor great contemporary designs. By Christopher Nolan's insistance, that setting was provided and it's nice to see a contemporary design break into the nominations. The film's makeup wasn't heavy like Benjamin Button or Hellboy II, but the achievement of it to show the varying degrees of the Joker's dubbed "war paint" always managed to create a strong emotion, particularly the running botches in the interrogation scene. It's smaller but emotionally effective. Also, the visual effects nomination is really great because we all know Nolan hates CGI and used very little of it here. The inclusion of this film here shows high praise for physical effects that are done extremely well, particularly in a category that generally only recognizes heavy computer effects.

Of course, all of these nominations shy in comparison to Heath Ledger's posthumous recognition and will in no doubt be the film's most important moment during the ceremony.

Still, all of these nominations, including Heath's, are the result of Christopher Nolan. His exclusion from the Best Director race is beyond me, especially with nominees like Ron Howard and Stephen Daldry standing in his place. Nolan's vision elevated the Batman franchise to go above and beyond what a comic book movie should be, and even if you didn't like the film, you'd have to say that Nolan's intentions were marvelous. But still, he was left off the list.

I know The Reader has a lot of fans out there, but I am not one of them. What makes this situation even more depressing is that the Academy has sent an unbecoming message to the people. Everyone knows that the Oscars are becoming increasingly out of touch with general audiences, and the hijaking of the ceremony by Laurance Mark and Bill Condon show their desperation in grabbing audiences. Last year were their lowest ratings, and they've not experienced anything high in ratings since Lord of the Rings. That movie won Best Picture, and while nobody really expected The Dark Knight to win that award, its very mention would have shown an interest in this elite group. The message sent out now is that when the chips are down, a polished piece of Oscar bait will win in favor of a genre film supported by the populist (much of this article could also apply to WALL-E). Even if you like The Reader, you know that's the message sent out. It seems the Oscars have doomed themselves to another year of poor ratings.

It is not the right of the people to take away the voting rights of Academy members, and if I'm ever invited into this group one day (fingers crossed), I wouldn't want anyone to say that I shouldn't have voted for a film or performance that I loved. I just notice in this situation that they were presented an opportunity to show people they were in touch with the general population and instead came across as disenchanted as they've always been. No matter what, I will always watch the Oscars and nothing will stop me, but I'll be a little sadder about the whole thing as well, and I'm sure there are many people who won't watch it this year.

For those wishing to find comfort in this snub, look here.