The 2024 Academy Awards: Nominations Are In and Creating Controversy

On May 16, 1929, the first Academy Awards were hosted honoring film released August 1, 1927 through August 1, 1928. Since then, the Academy Awards (commonly known as the Oscars) have been a longstanding tradition and highly anticipated event in the cinema industry. Created to highlight some of the best achievements made in the art of film, recipients of the award receive golden statuettes signifying their success. In preparing for the 96th Academy Awards on March 10th, 2024, we look at several nominees that have been highlighted by the Academy and have generated several hot topic conversations on social media. 

Overall, since their release on Tuesday, January 23rd, 2024, conversations regarding the release of nominations from the Academy have 1.14 million mentions and a reach of 12.59 billion. X, new sources, Reddit and Instagram are the social platforms most used in these conversations. Conversations peaked on January 23rd with the announcement of the nominees at 8:30 AM with 705,539 mentions. 

One of the biggest topics of conversation was surrounding the nomination of the Barbie movie and its actors. The movie was released in July of 2023 and deemed a re-make of an iconic movie that pushes cultural norms and is supportive of feminism. The lead actors were Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera and Will Ferrell. Collectively, Barbie was nominated for eight Oscars, but the controversy came with the actors who did received a nomination. Ryan Gosling was nominated for Best Actor and America Ferrera was nominated for Best Supporting Actress. Conversations regarding Margot Robbie not receiving a nomination was collectively one of the main complaints with an overall negative sentiment on social platforms. 

Oppenheimer was another film that was a topic of conversation among the announcements of Oscar nominations. The movie, which focuses on the race to create the first atomic bomb surrounding World War II, received the most nominations with a grand total of thirteen. When the film hit theaters, it consistently topped records. It overcame another movie’s seven year long streak in the box office, achieving a gross total of nearly $1 billion. 

Two other topics of conversation among social media users were regarding promotion of feminism, while “throwing other women under the bus”. Lily Gladstone, was the first Native American Woman to be nominated for the best actress award and Justine Triet was the only female director nominated this year for the Anatomy of a Fall. The big controversy came in that not all conversations were based on the two women’s success in being nominated. Instead, social media conversations focused on how it was disappointing that most people were taking away from her opportunity to highlight that Margot Robbie was not nominated. 

Given the high volume of conversation and controversy regarding the announcement of the nominees, many people are anxiously awaiting the announcement of winners when the 96th Annual Academy Awards take place on March 10th, 2024.

Author: Lexi Merriman