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Welcome to Nick Picks, a regular column by Nick Spake. There are countless important questions regarding the current state of cinema and I’m here to answer them.
Even if you don’t win, it’s still an honor to be nominated. What about the films that don’t even get nominated, though? There have been numerous classic films throughout history that couldn’t even merit a single Oscar nomination, from Once Upon a Time in America, to The Breakfast Club, to Bringing Up Baby. The list just goes on. Despite being one of the most successful and acclaimed franchises of recent years, The Hunger Games has yet to be recognized by the Academy Awards in any categories.
Granted, a Best Picture nomination has probably never been in cards for The Hunger Games. This isn’t because the films aren’t worthy. Personally, I thought Catching Fire was one of the best films of 2013. These movies were never going to resonate with the Academy, though, because they don’t seem “important” or “serious” enough. In the minds of Oscar voters, they’re just “teen stuff.” That’s one of the reasons why they also refused to get on the Harry Potter bandwagon.
The Harry Potter movies at least accumulated twelve technical nominations at the Oscars over the years. Meanwhile, The Hunger Games movies have only managed to get three Golden Globe nominations in the Best Original Song category. It’s a royal shame this series has been constantly overlooked for its art direction, its hairstyling and makeup, and especially its costume design. With the release of Mockingjay – Part 2, the Academy only has one more chance to honor The Hunger Games for its impressive production values.
In addition to excelling on a technical level, Mockingjay – Part 2 is also one of the 2015’s best blockbusters. With the final entry in the saga, director Francis Lawrence hit his target with powerful drama and riveting action. While Catching Fire remains the franchise’s most complete adaptation, this fitting conclusion still leaves Katniss Everdeen on a high note. As one of the most compelling and well-made franchises of the past decade, The Hungers Games deserves to get recognition somewhere come Oscar time.
Before Academy voters pass on Mockingjay –Part 2, please consider the following: The Golden Compass, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and 2010 version of The Wolfman each won one Oscar. Just as appalling, the Transformers movies have garnered a total of seven Oscar nominations. Worst of all, even Norbit was nominated for an Oscar. Do we really want to live in a world where all the latter movies can be called Academy Award winners/nominees while The Hungers Games has nothing to show for its efforts? May the odds be ever in its favor.
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The Academy proved that they don’t care about franchises anymore. 10 years ago, they gave LOTR 18 oscars, the Hobbit trilogy barely had a couple of noms in the technical category. I agree with your article, also the last Harry Potter film lost with a far more childish story that only because it was directed by Scorsese, had these nominations and won. It was only because of nostalgia, all bias.
I also think that Jennifer Lawrence’s performances in the Hunger Games films were far more thrilling than the ones the Academy recognized, and even though I haven’t seen Joy yet, I think she deserves a nom for Mockingjay part 2. In the other hand, I think that the Hunger Games films weren’t made for awards, but to tell a social critique of war, reality shows, blending influences from Greek and roman mythology with your typical teen love triangle, and the first strong female lead in a franchise since Harry Potter (undoing the damage that Bella Swan and Twilight did).