Unpacking the Oscars

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Unpacking the Oscars

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By Ben Elliott

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If the Oscars are a snapshot of the film industry, then 2024 — a year shaped by the lingering effects of 2023’s dual SAG and WGA strikes, which produced both record highs and lows at the box office — is a blur. These are nominations from an inflection point, capturing an industry grappling with its place in a rapidly changing world.

Blockbusters like Dune: Part 2 and Wicked share Best Picture nominations with boundary-pushing indies such as The Substance, Anora, and Nickel Boys. Meanwhile, Emilia Perez, which skipped theaters and went straight to Netflix after its Cannes premiere, scored three more nominations than The Brutalist, a film crafted specifically for the theatrical experience.

Conclave, 2024

One of the morning’s big surprises was Sebastian Stan’s Best Actor nomination for the Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice, a film that struggled to find a domestic distributor and subsequently withered at the box office. Stan used his peers' reluctance to engage with the political moment to his advantage, calling out the industry in interviews and securing a nomination in the process. In an award season that’s been brazenly apolitical, Stan’s nomination is a hint that Hollywood may not be backing down from activism just yet.

A Complete Unknown, 2024

Equally thrilling is the resurgence of films like Conclave and A Complete Unknown, adult dramas that not only managed to break through at the box office but are also reminiscent of a type of storytelling that once defined the Academy Awards. These kinds of movies had shifted to indie productions and streaming platforms as studios leaned heavily into franchise blockbusters, and seeing them nominated across the board makes me optimistic we’ll see more like them in the years to come.

But ultimately, the best part of these nominations is that they do what Oscar nominations always do: make movies feel special. In the digital age, it’s easy to think of art simply as content. The beauty of the Academy Awards is how they remind us that movies are so much more — that films, regardless of their size or scope, are events unto themselves.

And that’s something worth celebrating.

Showtimes

Showtimes Freakier Friday | 1:00PM, 3:30PM, 6:00PM, 8:30PM The Life of Chuck | 1:15PM, 4:15PM Highest 2 Lowest | 1:45PM, 4:45PM, 8:00PM The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg | 7:00PM

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