It's fair to say that the 2020 Oscar Nominations haven't impressed many people. As the movie industry continues to become more diverse and representative of a wider range of people, the Academy Awards are still not reflecting this.
Of course, as soon as the nominations dropped, people flooded to social media sites to convey their displeasure. Here are 10 of the best memes from across the internet that just about sum up the general mood surrounding the award season for this year.
JOKER VS MCU
Marvel versus DC has always been a big debate amongst comic book fans. The Marvel Cinematic Universe seemed to have the DC Extended Universe beat in terms of their movie success, however, the MCU hasn't done too well in award seasons in the past.
Avengers: Endgame was a culmination of an eleven year journey and yet even the main lead, Robert Downey Jr. has not received an Oscar nod. So fans seem a little perplexed by the fact that Joker, another comic book movie, has amassed an impressive 11 nominations!
WHO COULD IT BE?
The issue of diversity has plagued the Oscars for some time. Indeed, not only does gender still seem to play a big part but so does race. The Oscars-so-white campaign took hold a few years ago, and you'd expect the awards to finally reflect the ongoing change.
Instead, the recent nominees have shown that the voters behind the Oscars seem to feel more comfortable putting forward white actors and actresses for the major awards. It's therefore easy to guess who in the above picture is actually nominated in 2020.
THEY DISAGREE
Film Twitter usually has a strong opinion on what movies are great and which are pretty terrible. Many people who use the social media site have seemingly gotten behind Adam Sandler's recent performance in the crime thriller, Uncut Gems.
It seems the Academy don't actually want to put Sandler forward for any of their awards, perhaps because he has been stereotyped for a certain type of role. Nonetheless, film Twitter definitely disagrees with this choice and indeed many of the other nominees.
BEST DIRECTOR
We've previously mentioned that race has become an issue for the Oscars once again, but it appears that gender is still playing a large part. It's very rare for women to be nominated in the Best Director category, which has again proven to be the case this year.
What's perhaps more surprising is that Greta Gerwig's Little Women has been nominated for Best Picture and yet she hasn't received a nod for Best Director. Clearly five guys accurately represents the category, perhaps even for the next few years.
MCU FANS
Apart from the fact that many comic book fans felt like Joker didn't exactly improve upon the famous DC character, Marvel fans, in particular, feel a little hurt over the crazy amount of Oscar nominations that the film, based on the clown prince of crime, has received.
What may make this worse is that Martin Scorsese, who has likened Marvel movies to theme park rides rather than actually films, has been part of the production for Joker. All of this put together has created a pretty bleak picture for those wanting an MCU nomination.
MAYBE OSCARS AREN'T EARNED
Some people have started a pretty out there conspiracy on the internet that Oscar nominations aren't actually won on merit at all, but could actually be bought by studios and those who are close with the people responsible for voting on the Academy Awards.
Such a theory seems pretty far fetched, although it would certainly explain some of the odder snubs and strange nominations that really shouldn't be anywhere near the awards. It's almost as if the whole system itself is actually outdated!
CONGRATULATIONS TO THOSE MEN
The diversity of the awards has become such a problem that even the hosts announcing the nominations couldn't hide their emotions. Many on Twitter pointed out the fantastic reaction that Issa Rae had to the Best Director category.
After going through the list of five male nominations, Rae congratulated all of those males for their achievements. The look said all it needed to about her feelings towards the Academy for the lack of inclusion of any females in said category.
MAINSTREAM CULTURE
While people are still ranking all the nominations from the Oscars, some are quick to point out the fact that the Academy Awards still aren't listening to what people actually want to see. They famously tried to include a Popular Film category in years past.
Despite the best efforts of the mainstream movie-going public, the Oscars just aren't listening to what people think should be nominated. As this meme so accurately depicts, they might as well have been asleep for the past couple of years, as the world changes around them.
ORIGIN STORIES
Some have really taken the nominations for this year to heart. The list was especially shocking due to the categories we've previously discussed. Although the Animation category took us by surprise for the right reasons, others might have driven people off the edge.
In an effort to mock the Oscars' obsession with Joker, many people have proclaimed that this is actually the start of their origin story. Perhaps a society that keeps ignoring diversity and representation will create a few new super villains we can make films about.
NOBODY CARES
This meme actually sums up the differing moods on social media perfectly. On one hand, do the Oscars really matter? No one remembers in a few years what was and wasn't nominated and it won't negatively affect a career necessarily if someone is snubbed.
However, on the other hand, representation is incredibly important to so many. Another white male winning an Academy Award isn't anything special and no one cares because it's happened so many times. There are other groups that need representation now more than ever.