2011 Awards Season: A Year of Chaos

The 2011 awards season descended into utter chaos—the largest such upheaval ever seen! In years past, after the Golden Globe Awards, the Oscar race would take shape, signaling the sprint to the finish and the final competition in the third stage. But this year, not only was the landscape unclear, it became more disordered than ever before!

The three main indicators for the Oscars—the North American Broadcasting Film Critics Association Award, the National Critics Association Award, and the Golden Globe Award—each showed vastly different awarding trends, causing confusion across the board. The nomination lists themselves were a battlefield, leaving many in disbelief.

The North American Broadcasting Film Critics Association gave its Best Picture and Best Director awards to The Artist, Best Actor to Renly Hall for Crazy Love, and Best Actress to Viola Davis for The Help.

The National Critics Association, however, honored Hugo with Best Picture and Best Director, while Michael Fassbender won Best Actor for Shame and Tilda Swinton took Best Actress for We Need to Talk About Kevin.

The Golden Globes divided Best Picture between The Descendants and The Artist, Best Director to Martin Scorsese for Hugo, and Best Actor to both George Clooney for The Descendants and Jean Dujardin for The Artist. The Best Actress awards went to Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady and Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn.

It was a chaotic, staggered mess! In prior years, one or two awards might diverge, but this year, the splits were nothing short of staggering.

The Chaos Extends to the Trade Unions

Beyond the three major indicators, the five major trade unions in the American film industry—the Producers' Guild, the Editors' Guild, the Writers' Guild, the Directors' Guild, and the Actors' Guild—also saw disorder. As of now, the unions had only announced their nomination lists, adding to the chaos without providing clarity. Even these nominations left the industry bewildered.

The Producers Guild of America nominated ten films: The Artist, The Descendants, Hugo, The Help, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Crazy Love, The Tree of Life, War Horse, Anti-Cancer Me, and Bridesmaids.The American Editors' Guild nominated The Artist, The Descendants, The Help, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Killing of a President, My Cancer-fighting Me, Midnight in Paris, and The Artist, but Hugo was notably absent.The Directors Guild of America nominated Alexander Payne for The Descendants, Martin Scorsese for Hugo, Woody Allen for Midnight in Paris, Terrence Malick for The Tree of Life, and Steven Spielberg for War Horse.The Screen Actors Guild saw George Clooney for The Descendants, Brad Pitt for Moneyball, and Renly Hall for Crazy Love among the nominees for Best Actor.For Best Actress, the nominees were Meryl Streep for The Iron Lady, Viola Davis for The Help, Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn, Tilda Swinton for We Need to Talk About Kevin, and Felicity Jones for Crazy Love.

These nominations, while diverse, still pointed to the chaotic pattern of the awards season, with Midnight in Paris, Hugo, The Artist, and The Descendants receiving mixed recognition, while others, like Moneyball, surged late.

The Film Critics Associations: More Confusion

Adding to the confusion were the various Film Critics Association awards. While some groups gave The Descendants several nominations, others didn't nominate it at all. A case in point is the Boston Film Critics Association and the San Francisco Film Critics Association, where their Best Picture nominations showed five completely distinct selections with no overlap, further highlighting the unpredictable nature of this awards season.

At the same time, the lack of a clear frontrunner made it impossible to determine which films or performances were truly ahead.

The Dark Horse: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

As the nominations continued, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, once an underdog, emerged as a surprise contender. Directed by Stephen Daldry and starring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, this film took the film industry by storm, using effective college public relations to catapult itself into the race. Before the Golden Globes, it was practically unknown, but it soon gained momentum, proving the unpredictable nature of this year's awards season.

The Final Nominee List

The final Oscar nominations were revealed, and the chaos came to an end—at least momentarily. Nine films made the cut for Best Picture: The Artist, Hugo, The Help, The Descendants, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, The Tree of Life, and War Horse.

Interestingly, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Bridesmaids, Anti-Cancer Me, and The Killing of a President were all left out.

A Year for Reflection

This chaotic and unpredictable awards season begs the question: Is this disarray a positive or negative sign for the future of film? With last year's The King's Speech upsetting The Social Network and this year's scramble for dominance, many wonder if the film industry is losing its way or if the rise of the internet and fast food culture is simply causing a seismic shift in the way films are recognized and celebrated.

In the end, no one could have predicted the outcome, but as the Oscars approach, we are left to wonder if the true winner will be the film that breaks out last minute, like Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, or if one of the established front-runners will reclaim their place at the top. Either way, the unpredictability of the season suggests that this year's awards show will be one for the history books.