Nerds Mourn The Social Network's Oscar Defeat

Did the Academy snub David Fincher's geek manifesto?

The 83rd annual Academy Awards didn't pan out as well as many expected for David Fincher's The Social Network, and some of the supporters from techland aren't pleased. Nominated for eight Oscars, the Facebook creation myth drama failed to earn the Academy's most prestigious accolades, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. The film won three awards: Best Original Score, Best Film Editing and Best Adapted Screenplay. For the tech press, it meant a relaxing night off. "Tech bloggers of the world rejoice!" tweeted TechCrunch's Alexia Tsotsis. "You don't have to write another post tonight." But for many tech enthusiasts, the film was a celebration of the nerd anti-hero, an underrepresented character in Hollywood. The disappointment over the film's lackluster performance is reverberating across tech blog comment boards this afternoon. Take a look at the irritation:

I Couldn't Believe My Eyes, writes Nick Price, a commenter at All Things Digital: "I just had a hilarious nightmare in which a room full of alleged experts called KING'S SPEECH a better film than THE SOCIAL NETWORK."

Just Like with Anime, the Academy Doesn't Appreciate Nerd Culture, writes a commenter at CNET:

Part of me thinks this should have won because it was unique and different, but part of me thinks that's the reason it lost. It's like this old anime I watched a while ago, Paprika: some people (including me) loved it because it was so trippy, surreal, and unique, while others trashed it because they couldn't fully comprehend the movie. Basically, the reviewers said "I don't get it, so this automatically stinks". I'm not saying the Oscar voters are all clueless boneheads, I just get the feeling that some of them didn't manage to fully appreciate the wonder and spectacle of the movie.

Old People Just Don't Get It, writes Matt Tran at Online Social Media:

I honestly believe that the film was quite hard done by with the awards it won. It is still fantastic to win 3 Oscars whilst being nominated in 8 categories; however editing, music and writing may not have been the film’s main points of praise. What may have failed The Social Network is what it stands for, as the more mature critics and voters may not have fully understood the message the movie was trying to convey. If you actively use Facebook and other social sites then you would immediately take more of an interest to the film, opposed to those who dont.

It's the Ultimate Nerd Manifesto, writes Sean at TechCrunch:

It turned out to be my absolute favorite movie of the entire year, because they had an amazing team working on it. The combination of writing, acting, music, and cinematography turned out of be one of the best combinations of all time. And it's not really "about" Facebook at all - it's the story of a nerd who creates a social site while in college and all the crazy stuff that happened as it grew into one of the biggest sites in the world. Obviously, a lot of it was glamorized for film, but regardless, it's a hell of a story and a lot of fun to watch.

The Film Had Everything, writes hawkeye_a at CNET: "Despite being fictional for the most part, the pacing, the jumping around on the time line, the relationships and character development,etc...were all top notch. And i think it should have won Best Picture."