Film nominations come as no surprise

Awards season is upon us— film critics and aficionados everywhere hold their breath as the nominations for the year’s best movies, shows, and performances are released. The 2020 Golden Globe Awards took place on Sunday, Jan. 5 while the Academy Award nominations were announced on Monday, Jan. 13. The contents of both sparked much discussion amongst followers of the film industry. 

Once again, one of the biggest talking points was the lack of female representation in the nominations. Natalie Portman famously called out the all-male directors list at the Golden Globes two years ago, but not much has changed since then. Looking at the 2020 nominations, the directing category still remains comprised of only men, with no recognition for Lulu Wang (“The Farewell”), Lorene Scafaria (“Hustlers”), Greta Gerwig (“Little Women”) or Olivia Wilde (“Booksmart”). 

“Joker,” the controversial retelling of the classic villain’s origin story, received a remarkable 11 Oscar nominations. While its initial release generated awards buzz amongst critics, it quickly died down, particularly in light of the controversy over the film’s glorification of mental health problems and the implications of the particular ways in which director Todd Phillips chose to depict the  violence in the film. 

This angered quite a few people, with Twitter users everywhere accusing Phillips of nabbing nominations that should have gone to notable female directors from this year. Junior Michelle Zhao said, “It’s kind of disappointing to see that despite all the great films that women have directed this year, the Golden Globes still turns a blind eye towards their work.”

The 2020 nominations continued the longtime trend of shutting out horror films. Fan favorites “Midsommar” and “Us” received no recognition, despite the wild acclaim of  their directors’ previous horror films, “Hereditary” and “Get Out” respectively.

 HBO’s “Chernobyl” and Netflix’s “The Crown” and “Unbelievable” dominated the realm of television, with four nominations for each series. Though not entirely unexpected, the last season “Game of Thrones” got very little love besides Kit Harington’s acting nomination.

Netflix continues to prove itself as a potent force, receiving seventeen nominations for its films and thirty-four overall. However, fans were disappointed by the HFPA’s disregard for “When They See Us,” Netflix’s acclaimed mini-series about the Central Park Five.