Steve McQueen’s boldly unclassifiable five-part investigation into Black history couldn’t compete with superheroes.
“sang Oscar host Hugh Jackman, “I haven’t seenThe Reader!”
The perception of elitism stung the voting body.
John Boyega in ‘Small Axe: Red, White and Blue’.Amazon Studios
Oscars cosmologist Mark Harrisdirectly connected theDark Knightfurorto the later expansion of the Best Picture lineup.
A god’s-eye view makes the incident seem more like a duel between two different elitisms.
People kept making superhero movies.
Paul Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen in ‘WandaVision’.Marvel Studios
Then, one day, television started making superhero movies.
Which brings us to now.
But the elephant in the Limited Series room isWandaVision, the flagship Marvel show on Disney+.
ButSmall Axegot zero writing nominations, andWandaVisiongot three.
Look, I liked theWandaVisionpilot, a delightful sitcom riff that deserved its writing nod.
But if you think “All-New Halloween Spooktacular!”
The One Where the Obviously Evil Boring S.W.O.R.D.
There could be a simple Amazon problem here.
Even the great Don Cheadlecan’t believe his nominationfor a cameo inThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
No one has a more defensive antenna than superhero fans, except maybe Disney fans.
Which is hilarious, since Disney superheroes keep swallowing the world.
(I shall protect you, o Godzilla!)
I liked a lot ofWandaVision, even if the S.W.O.R.D.
parts are the end of history.
An insane solution would be to segment superheroes into their own category, which is obviously unfair.
Notably, the cinematography nod was for the first film, “Mangrove.”
“Lovers Rock” is something else entirely.
And “Lovers Rock” walked away with less nominations than freaking S.W.O.R.D.????
A dark night, indeed.
