Oscars 2024: Students weigh in on this year’s nominees

The Oscars roll into town Sunday, taking place at the Dolby Theatre. Hollywood’s biggest awards show got its fair share of controversy this year over its nominations and students have thoughts.

Gillian Maltz, a grad student studying writing for screen and TV, said “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig deserved a nomination for best directing.

MALTZ: “I would say she definitely deserved to be nominated and she was totally snubbed.”

Alice Chiang, a junior majoring in communication, took issue with Barbie herself not getting nominated for best lead actress.

CHIANG: “I think Margot Robbie should be nominated. I feel like she deserved it.”

Although Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig were not nominated for their individual categories, “Barbie” received a nomination for best adapted screenplay. Maltz thinks it’s an easy win.

MALTZ: “They’ll probably give Barbie the screenwriting award because Greta got snubbed for directing.”

Also in the category for best adapted screenplay are “American Fiction,” which Maltz is excited for, and “Poor Things.” Jacob Graber, a junior majoring in business administration, found “Poor Things” to be unexpectedly good.

GRABER: “I liked ‘Poor Things’ quite a bit. I was surprised I liked it. I thought it was gonna be weird. And it was weird, but weird in a cool, enjoyable way.”

The big winner of this awards season, however, is expected to be “Oppenheimer.” Its 13 nominations are on track to sweep most categories, according to Maltz.

MALTZ: “I think Oppenheimer is gonna win everything because it’s been winning everything else. It’s just totally what voters really want to see and what they love.”

Meanwhile, other students were left in the dark on the Academy Awards altogether, like Swami Hariharan, a grad student studying molecular microbiology and immunology.

HARIHARAN: “I actually haven’t heard anything about it. I think it’s actually good to know about it, but I just haven’t had the interest doing it.”

Graber agreed that the interest for this year’s Oscars cycle was down, citing social media as a contributing factor.

GRABER: “I think it’s getting just harder and harder to keep up with all the pop culture things. Social media definitely silos you into a category now better than ever. I think maybe it could be a little less relevant this year than in the past.”

Maltz attributed the lack of interest to a lack of good movies this past year.

MALTZ: “It kind of was a mid year for movies when I think back on the 2018/2017 seasons. I would like to see more risk-taking movies in the new year.”

The 96th Academy Awards will stream on ABC March 10 at 4 p.m.

For Annenberg Media, I’m Reo.