It’s Oscars Snubbing Season Again

Ms. Crosley is the author of the memoir “Grief Is for People.”

It’s an honor just to be nominated. Alas, one is not always granted the option for such graciousness. When actors are left out of the running for an Academy Award, they have to make do with being the subject of public uproar, of cries for justice from people whose previous tantrum was over a discontinued potato chip. The Oscar snub has become its own conversational domain, a prominent outgrowth of the Oscars themselves.

During snubbing season, there are endless posts, pieces, reels and threads devoted to this chew-toy of a topic, all arguing about which art and artists should have been recognized by the academy. One could go so far as to suggest that our fixation on Oscar snubs is healthy. In a culture that can’t concentrate, that routinely forgets the names of films and actors, we have trained ourselves to notice what isn’t there. Once a year, we perk up, survey the party and ask: Hey, has anyone seen Janet?

Because I have been given the floor, I will get my own licks in: Jesse Plemons was a revelation in “Bugonia,” like otherworldly (ironic, considering the premise of “Bugonia”), and when Leonardo DiCaprio called Chase Infiniti “the heart and soul” of “One Battle After Another,” it felt like fact, not bias. Personally, I was surprised when neither of those actors made the cut. It would’ve been nice if they had, but they didn’t. And now? Now I must go on living my life.

Some of us are not so sanguine. Perhaps this is because passionate engagement with snubbing offers an unchallenging sort of righteousness. Especially when delivered via social media. For many fans, becoming agitated over the Oscars is a simple way of telegraphing sophistication and memory. You know who doesn’t mind a subtitle and remembers what came out in September? Your very online college friend. You know whose other takes regarding the multiple wars, civil rights violations and humanitarian disasters raging across this planet seem a bit iffy? Your very online college friend.

So maybe let’s enjoy what’s left of this season of anodyne outrage, this inconsequential possessiveness over millionaires whom we do not know. It’s an extension of fandom to be nonplused that one’s favorite actor or film was left off a list. If people take these things personally, it’s because a film has done its job.

That said, there’s nothing that puts film fans on message quite like the actors and directors themselves. Normally, I am not one for recommending the emulation of celebrities, but the people involved in awards shows seem to have a more nuanced view of snubs than those watching at home. Granted, these are professional performers, cornered into playing nice. They have to comport themselves under an umbrella of politics and perspective, to deftly support their co-workers when only some members of their team received recognition for the same project. Audiences have the luxury of getting “still mad” about snubs, years later. (Don’t get me started on “Yentl,” not again!) Realistically, all of Hollywood can’t possibly have right-sized this occasion. Otherwise, we wouldn’t get those tearful acceptance speeches. But boy, can they sell diplomacy in the meantime.

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