Her Campus Logo Her Campus Logo
Culture > Entertainment

Oscar Nominations: the Surprises, the Snubs and the Race to Gold

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at George Mason University chapter.

The 91st Academy Awards will be held on February 24th 2019. After long controversy of previous booked host Kevin Hart said he will not be apologizing for offensive tweets, and will not host the Oscars. This leaves the prestigious awards ceremony without a host for the first time in over 30 years.

However, even with that downside of news, this does not take away the excitement and fun of seeing who is getting one step closer to claim that little golden man.

The nominations came out last week for categories from Best Actress and Best actor to Best Foreign Film, to even adding a new category called “Outstanding Popular Film” which will be used to categorize the most popular film of the year. With the rise of popularity with Black Panther, it seems that the Academy is looking at blockbuster films in a new light.

Via Yahoo

There were many great films this year, A Star is Born, A Quiet Place, Mary Poppins Returns, Black Panther and more. There were a lot of fan favorites that got the nomination after receiving a few other previous awards like SAG and the Golden Globes and there were a lot of snubs that were not only disappointing but shocking as well.

Rami Malek was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his part in Bohemian Rhapsody as Freddie Mercury. This was not a shocker, with a 608.7 million dollar grossing price and becoming the Highest-Grossing Music Biopic of all time, there is no wonder Rami got a Golden Globe, a SAG, a AACTA Award and a Satellite Award.

Via NPR

Roma, a Netflix Original following the story of a young domestic worker in the neighborhood of Roma in Mexico City has 10 nominations. The film turned out to be a fan favorite and expected to win to go home with some of the gold. Having a streaming service production nominated for an Oscar is a big deal. This begs the question, are Netflix and Hulu specials comparable to high production value films?

Via Rotten Tomatoes

A snub for the Killmonger himself, Michael B Jordan. In fact, none of the actors from the Marvel film, Black Panther were nominated. Causing some questions to float around the diversity in The Actors and Actresses categories.

However, the $631 billion movie surprisingly made the Best Picture category. Bohemian Rhapsody, Roma and A Star is Born are also nominated for this category.

Via New York Post

A big snub Emily Blunt for her role as the iconic role of Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins: Returns. Blunt was snubbed before for Into the Woods (2014) and for The Devil Wears Prada (2006). Is the actress’s appreciation long overdue?  

Where to watch these amazing films before the awards you ask?

Most of these films are available to rent on Amazon or on Youtube. Roma and Black Panther can be found on Netflix.

Grab your popcorn, place your bets and put on your fancy pajamas, collegiettes! It’s award season.  

Salma Hamze

George Mason University '20

Salma is a senior at George Mason currently studying Communication with a double concentration in Public Relations and Media Criticism and Production with a minor in Journalism. Family, friends and food are some of her top priorities; along with music, film and books. Reading sparked an interest in not only writing fiction but real world topics as well. She hopes to work in Public Relations and be able to travel the world one day. She is also a sister of Alpha Xi Delta here on campus.
George Mason Contributor (GMU)

George Mason University '50

Want to get involved, or have a story idea we should write about? Email us! hc.georgemason@hercampus.com