It happens every year—the bustling of media, cinephiles and critics as the 92nd Academy Awards approaches. It’s looking to be unpredictable with surprise nominations and brutal snubs; however, as prestigious as the awards are regarded, the academy continues to overlook certain things—two of the biggest being diversity and the best filmmakers.  

“Joker” led the academy with a startling 11 nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor (Joaquin Phoenix) and Best Director (Todd Philips). “The Irishman,” “Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood” and “1917” followed after with 10 nominations from the academy. 

With the best picture category’s 10 movie limit, the pool for this year almost reaches it with nine nods ranging from all over the publicity spectrum.  Netflix productions “The Irishman” and “Marriage Story” run in the Best Picture category while “Klaus” and “I Lost My Body” stand tall for the Best Animated Feature category. In recent years, the industry has diverted its ways to publicize and make these films more accessible to the public all while still racking in revenue and recognition. Yet, however diverse the academy is getting in this new way of recognizing movies, they still remain punch-drunk to diversity in all other aspects.

Neglected Works 

“The Lighthouse” was one of the most provocative films this year. It’s somber, vulgar and didn’t abide by any conventional film rules. Robert Eggers’s new work captivated the hideous side of humanity in his tale of isolation and madness but the Academy’s obstinate views remain closed. Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson gave haunting performances that blew—I dare say—most of the nominees out of the water. It’s scandalous that they weren’t even considered when their performances are some of the few that really defined the movie experience. 

In addition, “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” told a story that’s never been told before, truly a breath of fresh air in an industry that’s been saturated with the same type of movies for such a long time. The originality in beauty really separated the movie from its counterparts yet it still wasn’t able to gain the publicity it deserved. 

Following his horror, a genre-defining breakthrough with “Hereditary,” Ari Aster’s “Midsommar” was a victim once again to the Academy. It was amazing to see Florence Pugh get nominated for “Little Women,” but her performance in “Midsommar” was all the more poignant. The Academy is notorious for holding a grudge against horror movies, and in an era where the genre is being revolutionized, it’s almost a crime that the Academy doesn’t give Ari Aster the recognition that he deserves. 

Diversity Drought

Throughout the acting categories, only one black actress was nominated—Cynthia Erivo for “Harriet.” On Jan. 5, Awkwafina won the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy for her marvelous performance in “The Farewell” but didn’t even get a nomination for Best Actress at the upcoming Oscars. The South Korean film “Parasite” from director Bong Joon Ho has had a stomping awards season, and it is satisfying to see since it is the one film, besides “Little Women,” that wasn’t centralized around white men. 

As for directors, not a single nod was given towards Greta Gerwig—which would’ve made her the first female director to be nominated twice for the category—or Lulu Wang, who made a prominent mark in the world of cinema with her movie, “The Farewell.” 

It’s almost as if the Academy forgot the backlash that they’ve been getting for the past several years about the lack of representation in the industry. Jordan Peele made history with “Get Out” in 2017, scoring nominations from the industry in four categories, but his new debut “Us” (which is arguably better) didn’t even get an ounce of recognition from the Academy. “Get Out” crushed political barriers and had a lot to say about society and race, while “Us” broke the “ideal” standard for what is believed that black filmmakers should make movies about.

A step back for an industry that’s been struggling for so long, the Academy had been stepping up its efforts for the past couple of years but has seemed to throw that all away this year, which is an abhorrent disgrace.