Academy Awards. The names nominated for the 92nd Academy Awards were announced with the presentation of John Cho and Issa Rae, which have more diversity than 20 different names in the acting category. Just five years ago, even if a comic book adaptation was more nominated than any other production competed or Netflix was the most nominated studio, the absurdity of his bet began to turn into an Academy tradition, even if it was the headlines of the 2020 version of the Oscars. The fact that the “Best Male Director” category was already in force was a sign that some things are still unchanged.
While this is the case, we wanted to mention some points that attract our attention from Oscar nominations. As I mentioned in the article about the Golden Globe nominations I wrote about a month ago; In the following chapters, you will find that sometimes familiar problems reappear, new, and some winds of change are blowing.
The Joker was the comic book adaptation with the most Oscar nominations
Didn’t we mention the contrasts in the introduction? After a year in which comic book adaptations, especially the Marvel Cinematic Universe, were discussed, the Joker made history with 11 nominations. Thus, the life of the history written by Black Panther by winning three awards in addition to his nomination for Best Film Oscar, was short. Despite coming from the comic book culture, Joker, which we can say that it stands in a relatively different place in style, even exceeded expectations by being in all the main categories except for the Best Actress. Time will tell if the film will win the greatest award and continue to make history.
Parasite became the 6th nominee in both the best film and the best international film category
Taking the award season far ahead, Parasit – Parasite has received a total of six nominations in total, adding fiction and production design to the categories such as directing and international film. The movie, signed by Bong Joon Ho; Z is the sixth film to compete in both the Best Film and Best International Film Category after Life is Beautiful – Life Is Beautiful, Tiger and Dragon – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Love – Amour and Rome. The fact that this situation, which can be said to be rare in the 92-year history of the Academy, has been repeated three times in the last eight years, two consecutively, may indicate that the obstacles that Bong Joon Ho underlined in his speech in the Golden Globe have started to disappear a little.
Netflix acquires more candidates than all other studios
Netflix, which has been trying to make itself accepted to the cinema sector, which it has been included in the real sense a few years ago, seems to have received the reward of this effort, at least on paper. With the effect of The Irishman being nominated for 10 and Marriage Story for 6 nominations, Netflix left all other studios behind with 24 nominations. It is admirable that the company, which won the first Best Film Oscar nomination with Rome, soon brought two more films here. However, we can say that it is quite early to make ambitious comments based on the example that it has only turned into an award after 17 Golden Globe nominations. Still, Netflix is at a very good point for now.
There is no place again for women directors
Golden Globe, BAFTA, Association of Directors awards… These very different awards have one thing in common: they are giving the Best Male Director award. And the Academy has joined the club as of today. Bong Joon Ho, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Sam Mendes and Todd Phillips were nominated in the Best Director category, which Issa Rae announced as “Success to all male candidates.”
Unfortunately, we couldn’t see the name of Greta Gerwig, the director of Little Women, who will compete in six branches in total. Of course, there was no turn to Lulu Wang, the director of The Farewell, who was completely ignored, or Marielle Heller, who signed A Beautiful Day in Neighborhood. Let’s use the numbers again to embody the situation: Only five women directors, Kathryn Bigelow, Lina Wertmüller, Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola and Greta Gerwig in the 92-year Oscar history were nominated for an Oscar in the directing category. The only name that can reach the award is Bigelow.
Visits: 104
