Hey, 'Dark Knight' Fans: Get Over It Already

In the past week, I've read a lot of complaining about The Dark Knight being passed over for a Best Picture nomination. People on message boards say the Academy doesn't know what it's doing, even though the Academy is made up precisely of people who know what they're doing; they make movies for a living, how about you? It's understandable to be disappointed if The Dark Knight was your favorite film of 2008. But there were plenty of good films last year, although not very many great ones. Is The Dark Knight more deserving than Wall-E? No. It made more money, but that's a different argument. I don't hear very much noise about Wall-E getting the shaft, even though it will have a lot more to do with the future of filmmaking than The Dark Knight will. The common response seems to be that angry Dark Knight fans will boycott the Academy Awards. So go huff and puff. But here's something to consider: The Dark Knight isn't the first movie overlooked for Best Picture. Shocking, right? In fact, it happens, oh, about every year. So I'm tired of your bitching, and I'd like you to shut the hell up. You know who should be pissed off about the Oscars? Alfred Hitchcock fans. Arguably the most influential director of all time, Alfred Hitchcock was nominated for Best Director five times and never won. But it's not just the omissions for Hitchcock personally; some of his best and most legendary movies weren't nominated for Best Picture: Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, and Psycho have zero Best Picture nominations between them. Goose egg. Making matters worse, the last three were made in consecutive years, and all three are on the most recent AFI list of the 100 greatest movies Hollywood has ever produced, with Vertigo and Psycho in the top 15. Additionally, in the much more rigorous Sight & Sound poll, conducted every ten years with the aid of directors and film critics, Vertigo was most recently ranked #2, behind Citizen Kane (more on Kane in a minute). But it was never nominated for Best Picture. Oh, Psycho wasn't in that group's top ten of all time, but it also received numerous votes. So, yes, possibly the greatest trifecta in the entire history of cinema received no Best Picture nominations, and I guess Rear Window is just some throwaway, too, even though it's also in the top 50 on the AFI list. And you're moaning about the Batman movie. OK then. Spielberg's Close Encounters picked up eight Oscar nominations, just like The Dark Knight, including one for Best Director, and though it radically altered sci-fi less than six months after Star Wars had done the same thing, it was unworthy of the big nomination. Star Wars was nominated, lost to Annie Hall, and the other three nominees were Julia, The Turning Point, and The Goodbye Girl. So enough about The Reader, if you please. As for Citizen Kane, it did receive Oscar nominations. Nine of them, in fact, including Best Picture. But the consensus greatest film ever made only won Best Original Screenplay, and here's something to keep in mind: It was openly booed during the Academy Awards ceremony whenever one of its nominations was read because the film so openly courted controversy and angered the Hollywood establishment. That film, in case you've never seen it and automatically hate it because it's old, changed the course of everything. I don't have time to go through it all here, but needless to say, in 1941, nobody else was telling non-linear stories through the eyes of people other than the main character while cutting a hole in the floor and shooting up at the action from bizarre angles through the lens of a camera that could keep objects both four and 40 feet away in perfect focus. Still not convinced that the poor Dark Knight isn't alone? Do you still think it's the only memorable movie ever made not to receive a Best Picture nomination? Well, in that case, enjoy the following list, a chronological recount of 50 films that were certainly at or near the top of their given years, none of which were nominated for Best Picture. I'm not comparing these movies to The Dark Knight, but rather to films released the same year, and that's really what a snub is all about. City Lights
Frankenstein
Modern Times
Snow White
Laura
Notorious
White Heat
Singin' in the Rain
The African Queen
Rear Window
East of Eden
Rebel Without a Cause
The Searchers
The Seven Samurai
Paths of Glory
Vertigo
Touch of Evil
Some Like it Hot
North By Northwest
Psycho
Spartacus
Breakfast at Tiffany's
The Machurian Candidate
8 1/2
Hud
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Wild Bunch
Once Upon a Time in the West
Mean Streets
Serpico
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Being There
Manhattan
The China Syndrome
Escape from Alcatraz
The Shining
The Empire Strikes Back
Brazil
Do the Right Thing
Henry V
sex, lies, and videotape
Boyz N the Hood
Malcolm X
The Player
The Usual Suspects
The Talented Mr. Ripley
Almost Famous
City of God
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
United 93 City Lights and Modern Times are Charlie Chaplin, and his influence on motion pictures is undeniable. Singin' in the Rain is the greatest musical ever made, and like 2001 and 8 1/2, it made the Sight & Sound top ten. So that's four movies from that esteemed list that weren't nominated. The Searchers is probably the greatest Western of its age, I don't need to explain what The Seven Samurai is, and how did Spartacus avoid the nomination? I mean, it finally won when Gladiator picked up the prize, but still. Take a look at the four films beginning with Being There. They're all from 1979. And I left out ...And Justice For All. Do the Right Thing, Henry V, and sex, lies are all from 1989. United 93, Eternal Sunshine, and City of God all received Best Director nominations, but somehow not Best Picture nods. So there you have it. The Dark Knight isn't the first film overlooked for a Best Picture nomination. It won't be the last. And it's certainly not the best.

Comments

[Lillian James]

I really do not understand this obsession everyone has about this. I would've been a little put out if it HAD been nominated for Best Picture. I mean, it was a great movie, but it's just not the kind of movie you nominate for a Best Picture Academy Award. Of course, they've nominated (and picked as winner) some movies that should never have been nominated (ahem, Crash). But really, what's the point of having a movie nominated that you know would never win? Because even the people who are pissed about it being shunned KNOW that it would never have won so there's just no reason to be angry. And if they're saying it's about just having it recognized...people, it's the most recognized movie of the year. And I haven't heard anybody call it a bad movie. So I don't think that's an issue.

The only thing I think The Dark Knight got jilted on was Original Score. The whole point of the music is to enhance the viewing of the movie, and the music certainly did that for The Dark Knight. I get chills at the end every single time, mainly just because of the brilliance of the music over Gary Oldman's little speech. Anyways, there's my rant about The Dark Knight and the Academy Awards.

[Chris]

"Is The Dark Knight more deserving than Wall-E? No. It made more money, but that's a different argument. I don't hear very much noise about Wall-E getting the shaft, even though it will have a lot more to do with the future of filmmaking than The Dark Knight will."

Are you kidding me? Wall-E was good, but completely overrated. And what is it going to contribute to future filmmaking? All I saw it to be was 2001: A Space Odyssey in animated form. Fascinating to look at, but hardly any dialogue and not a whole lot really going on. The Dark Knight elevated a genre that had been seen as childish by most people before. I think that is going to influence filmmakers more than Wall-E will. There had already been an animated movie nominated for Best Picture, anyway. There has never been a comic book film nominated.

Anyways, The Dark Knight still got 8 nominations, including one for Ledger, so it's alright. I was rather unhappy the day it happened, but after a while it's just whatever. The Academy are known to make mistakes in their past anyway. You can't tell me Shakespeare in Love was actually better than Saving Private Ryan.

[Jim Dorey]

Excellent post Colin! Great read as usual - thanks...

[Evan. G.]

I applaud you tremendously for writing this. People really do need to stop complaining about this. As the above person said I would have been a little upset if The dark knight HAD been nominated. The academy did the right thing. There weren't that many great movies of 2008 to begin with and they chose ones for best picture that the average movie goer probably did not see.
If batman had received a nomination it would just run the industry in a bad direction in my opinion movies CAN'T just be about making millions of dollars they must be preserved as a medium for art and expression on ideas which is exactly what Milk, Slumdog, Frost/Nixon etc. are.
Dark knights primary goal was to make money, to me that's not a great movie. The academy should recognize films that strive for something more than the obvious money benefit.

Also finally I just want to point out how I appreciate you mentioning all of those great films that were also snubbed by the Oscars. I want to study film production in college and while I was visiting a campus I heard a kid talking about how he had seen The dark knight 9 times in theatres and how because of this he is really dedicated to learning about film and a big "film fan" I felt like smacking this kid in the face, I bet people like that couldn't even name one Chaplin or Kubrick or Scorsese film. Those directors and the list you have here is really what film is about.
Thanks.

[Get The Big Picture]

I'm not saying the Academy is infallible. That's why I listed 50 other movies that were overlooked. But The Dark Knight is not special in that way. I don't buy that the comic book genre was childish before, just because it never received a Best Picture nomination. Wall-E will have a greater impact technologically than The Dark Knight ever will. And there's nothing particularly new about what Nolan did, however well he did it. Watch Dark City; its cinematography is at least as good.

But beyond Ledger's performance, you simply can't make a case for The Dark Knight being that great a movie. There's not another performance that makes the cut and the story just ambles and ambles. The technical stuff is good, but not miles beyond Iron Man, if at all.

[shirley]

wall e do more with future of film making is a joke all the other animated films that are just as good . it did nothing different!

[janaya]

you think that wall e was better thats fine. to me wall e was forgettable.even my dad is a movie freak that is 65 years old thought wall e was just a good animated movie!

[ECB]

Ahem.... Joking?? First off 2 birds with one stone.... Evan G... I've seen movies from all 3 of those esteemed Hollywood icons and i am big fan of 2 of them, but too get mad that someone liked The Dark Knight that much is kind of ridiculous. Who are you to say that someone can't like a movie that much, if it made that person feel a certain way about film enough to make him want to get into filming, then I say the film done its job. P.S. None of the films from those 3 stars made me feel like The Dark Knight did... I just watched Goodfellas for the 51st time last night(not that big of an exaggeration) and it still doesn't seem as good as The Dark Knight to me. As for the 50 that ol Colin posted, i have seen many of those films and i understand what you were saying about those films in there respective years but....United 93?!?! COMMEEE ON MAN!!! Yes it's a true story about a national disaster, but the movie itself was ASS why would you put that on there i mean WHAT?! I digress... either way, i'd like to say for example, when was the last time a movie captivated so many people?? Even though titanic made more money, it was no where near the hysteria of this movie. Plus Titanic was in an era where bootlegging wasn't that prevalent and i defy you to say that Titanic was a better movie than The Dark Knight.... you couldn't curl your fingers to type that. I know to the argument that is irrelevant but there is no way in HELL..O that the best picture nominees were better than The Dark Knight and I LOVED BENJAMIN BUTTON but i wont go back to the theater 6 times to see it (i will buy the blu-ray though). Another way to put this is that i know the IMDB top 250 isn't from a list of critics but it is from the people who pay to see the movies and TDK is number 5 and was number 1 for a while.... Of course fanboys gave it a 10, but it evened out cause douchebags gave it a 1 just in spite... My point is the academy shouldn't look at it as a comic book film but just as a film, if any other normal oscar drama was hailed as high as The Dark Knight and critics alike it would have the Oscar in the bag on opening day. Also it's just ignorance to say that TDK was a great film but not the type of film the oscars nominate... Ok...the oscars are suppost to nominate the best films, not the best that fits into their category, and for you to say that shows a lack of backbone(Lillian)... Lillian the Earth is flat... take it how it is and that's how it is suppose to be.... COMEEEEE ON MANNN!!