Every year I have to write this post. Nobody and I mean nobody was snubbed by this year's Oscar nominations. Overlooked? Yes. Missed? Yes. Left out? Yes. Forgotten? Yes. Robbed? Sure.
But no one was SNUBBED!
Merriam-Webster (they make dictionaries) defines "snub" as ignoring someone in a deliberate and in an insulting way.
In my more than two decades as an Oscar voter I have never once heard a fellow voting member deliberately try and insult a fellow filmmaker by purposely not voting for them. It just doesn't happen.
People vote for the films they like. Sometimes I don't agree with how they vote. It happens. Look no further Martin Scorsese not winning for Raging Bull! But no one sits around and deliberately excludes filmmakers for the purpose of insulting them.
Do the Oscars get it wrong sometimes? In my opinion again, yes.
But neither Amy Adams, whose performance in Big Eyes I loved or Ava DuVernay's fantastic job directing Selma (made even more remarkable by the short time she had to shoot and edit the film) were snubbed. Nor was anybody else on your snub list.
Overlooked? Certainly.
But they were not deliberately excluded for the purpose of insulting them.
Finally, since you are all listening to me... Do we need more female directors and screenwriters? Absolutely. No question. Do we need more African-American, Asian-American and Latino-American filmmakers? Again, absolutely. I'll leave out the discussion of the need for more and stronger leading roles for female actresses for a later blog.
Is this the whitest Oscars award season since 1998? Apparently so.
Is there a lot of work to do for gender and racial equity? Yes!
BUT! No one was snubbed. Got it?
Don't make me write this blog again next year.
Congratulations to all the nominees and to those who were snubbed this year (you know who you are!) you still made great and inspiring films and performances!
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