(Photo Credit: Niko Tavernise)

The Oscar nominations announcement celebrates “Joker”

Joker, a film exploring the origins of the infamous Batman villain, is up for eleven different Oscars this year, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Joaquin Phoenix. Joker is competing against Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Martin Scorsese’s mafia drama The Irishman, and Little Women for the top film honor of 2020.

Joker is a controversial film because of its depiction of extreme violence and mental illness. When the film debuted in theaters, the movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, where a man shot dozens of people to death in 2012 during a showing of The Dark Knight Rises, refused to show it, saying it encouraged violence.

Other Oscar nominations (and snubs) stirred controversy in the lead-up to the 92nd Oscars. Little Women earned a nod for Best Picture, but the director, Greta Gerwig, didn’t make the cut for Best Director. In fact, not a single female director was nominated for the award this year.

“No Greta Gerwig for ‘Little Women,’ no Lulu Wang for ‘The Farewell,’ no Lorene Scafaria for ‘Hustlers,’ no Melina Matsoukas for ‘Queen & Slim’ no Marielle Heller for ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.’ Once again, the Oscars nominated five men for best director,” Ramin Setoodeh, the New York bureau chief at Variety, tweeted.

Jennifer Lopez was also snubbed for Best Supporting Actress for her role in “Hustlers,” a move many critics derided.

“It’s truly shocking that Jennifer Lopez didn’t get nominated in Best Supporting Actress for her role as a con-artist stripper in Hustlers, given how much of the award-season narrative centered on her revelatory performance in the movie. But it’s also not shocking at all that she was snubbed, given the odds against performers of color scoring nominations and the statistical bias—to bring the point home one more time—against films directed by women,” The Daily Beast reported.