The Blogger Who Cried Snub

Let's be honest about this, the sound you hear the moment after the Oscar nominations are announced isn't one of adoration, joy, or respect. It's one of the violent clashing of fingers against plastic letters, as flocks of people are desperate to make sure their feelings towards the nominations are heard loudest... and as close to first as possible (it's an internet thing). Though no matter how much willpower one group has versus the other, none can sustain against the coming tide. The return of the word "Snub."

Some of you may note that in recent years I've shied away from the general Oscar talk, and for good reason. I still love the Oscars. I'm still there on Sunday night, ready and waiting for the ceremony which means so much to the world of entertainment I love. So why don't I blog as much about it? Worry.

Yes, that's right, worry. I've watched the conversation on Oscars evolve as the internet has evolved since 2002. I've seen it go from a couple turbulent forum posts to a couple million turbulent tweets, facebook updates, forum posts, and blogger articles. Though no matter what happens, no matter how good of a year - or bad - the Oscar nominating committee has, it cannot shake the over prevalence of the power of the perception of a snub.

So much so that I have come to worry that the passion for crying snubs has cast far too powerful of a shadow over the entire ceremony. That worries me. It truly does. For you see, snubs are born of passion. Our love for a film that has gone barely, if at all, noticed by the Oscar committee calls upon us to call out. As we know, all too often in the present we forget about the films which failed to garner Oscar love in the past.

But I don't think that's true anymore. And I certainly don't think that's going to stay true going forward. You see, can you imagine what the world would have been like if they had the internet in the '30s, '40s, '50s, etc.? I imagine it wouldn't be terribly different from now. There's be lists from the eyes of the people who lived in those times themselves discussing the best films of the year. Articles on a site like Wikipedia through which people can mark the opinion of the time.

To me that's just as important to the history of film as the Oscars themselves. However, I don't think that means we should just cast the Oscars aside. Oh no, far from it. We should embrace them. For their history - no matter how flawed - is intricately intertwined with the history of film itself. Appreciation for what movies are today and what they will be tomorrow has, and will likely continue to, be shaped by the decisions of the Oscars and how we as a society receive them.

And I think it's important that we don't let Snubs cast shadows over the Oscars; but rather that we carry them alongside the films of the Oscars. In a given year there are any number of snubs, any number of complaints that can be waged at the Oscars, but there is only one Oscars.