Vox: 'Selma' was 'snubbed' because of old, white men; Twitter: You 'tools.' It was nominated for Best Picture

Our friends at Vox are at it again. Here’s what they just tweeted out about “Selma,” the critically-acclaimed biopic on Martin Luther King, Jr.:

Selma was snubbed because the average Oscar voter is a 63-year-old white man http://t.co/EtvZUMAKMp pic.twitter.com/mswp3t8wuM

— Vox (@voxdotcom) January 15, 2015

Got that? “Snubbed.”

But as we noted in an earlier post on this year’s Academy Award nominees, “Selma” was far from “snubbed” and was nominated for Best Picture:

Congrats to our nominees for Best Picture. #OscarNoms pic.twitter.com/qqqaEBIYLn

— The Academy (@TheAcademy) January 15, 2015

Tweeters were quick to pile on:

https://twitter.com/IMZ_Politics/status/555753172132564993

https://twitter.com/scottkier/status/555753501859778561

@voxdotcom it was nominated for best picture u tools!!! Ugh!! Character not color!

— EMM (@mm77atl) January 15, 2015

So, what gives. How exactly does Vox define “snubbed”? Here’s how:

As recently as a few weeks ago, the film was being touted as the one that might take down presumptive frontrunner Boyhood and certainly one that would score nominations for lead actor David Oyelowo and director Ava DuVernay.

Now, it’s the least-nominated film in the Best Picture category.

One man’s “snubbed” is another man’s “greedy.”

But, more importantly, let’s address why Vox thinks Selma didn’t get nominated for more awards. Here’s the No. 1 reason (out of 5) on their list and the only one mentioned in the tweet or title of their post:

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1) The Academy is really old, really white, and really male

But Vox, however, won’t come out and call these voters racist. To Vox, these old, white men practice “artistic conservatism”:

The Academy is diversifying, and that has led to bolder choices in recent years. (Movies like 12 Years a Slave or Her would never have won Oscars even 10 years ago.) But it’s a slow process, and that’s reflected in the artistic conservatism of this year’s nominees.

Tweeters aren’t buying this either. For example, a 63-year-old was a teenager at the time of the events of “Selma” and would have lived through it:

https://twitter.com/taranaki66/status/555753553273565184

And this really is the more important question. Who did these 63-year-old men vote for in past elections?

https://twitter.com/DevonK4/status/555753588526292993

Or this. Explain away, Voxers:

@voxdotcom the same demo that heaped noms on '12 Years a Slave' just one year ago? Perhaps the movie is just not that good

— ?????? ?. (@Jeremy10036) January 15, 2015

@voxdotcom Age and race didn't matter last year?

— Derek Straker (@Dr_Straker) January 15, 2015

https://twitter.com/DevonK4/status/555754121131601923

Vox then goes on to explain why race wasn’t the only factor. Maybe, then, they should put that in their title?

@voxdotcom @voxdotcom Really? clickbait racially charged headline? Not other factors like "Paramount Bungled the Campaign" too many biopics?

— Nick Van Amburg (@GamingTheory) January 15, 2015

Here are their other four reasons:

2) Paramount bungled the campaign

3) There were a lot of other traditionalist biopics this year

4) It came out too late

5) Roger Ebert died

For real. The other old, white men won’t behave properly without old, white man Roger Ebert to lead them?

***

Related:

‘White power’: Academy Awards voters criticized for ‘all white’ nominees (Plus complete list!)

Editor’s note: The final sentence of this post has been updated to correct the name of Roger Ebert (previous version incorrectly listed his first name as Robert).