Today is indeed a dark, dark day for the Academy Awards. After years of being the scorn of public ridicule for being “out of touch” with movie goers and “old fashioned,” the Academy had two chances to prove that they were still an awards show above all else. That they, despite getting a nomination wrong here and there, could still recognize artistic quality when they saw it. This year two movies defined 2008: “Wall-E” and “The Dark Knight.” Now “Wall-E” was always a long shot for the Best Picture race, but it can at least fall back on the Best Animated Film category and revel in it’s Best Original Screenplay nomination. “The Dark Knight” though...that’s a whole different story. Hailed as a contemporary masterpiece, the second highest grossing film of all time, and one of the most critically acclaimed blockbusters since “The Lord of the Rings,” “The Dark Knight” seemed poised for greatest.

The PGA, DGA, and WGA all nominated the film as one of the best this year, as did several prestigious film critics awards. Not the Academy though. Instead, they went ahead and nominated “The Reader” for Best Picture and Best Director. How on Earth did this happen? Was there no love for the film from the Academy? Did the public’s unconditional love for the film rub off the voters in a bad way? Did Harvey Weinstein buy his nomination? Whatever the case one thing is certain: The Academy is going to feel the wrath of the public for this one. Big time! Seriously folks, this is not your typical snub. I know that there are movies and actors that get snubbed all the time (“United 93,” Amy Adams in “Enchanted,” and “The Simpsons Movie” for Best Animated Film), but this is a big one. This is the Academy saying that public opinion no longer matters with the voters.

In fact, by going for this safe “important” film, it’s almost as if the voters are saying that they themselves are too good for a movie like “The Dark Knight.” They are deliberately giving off the impression that if your genre movie excels where others fail, that unless you are contributing to society then you have no business being here. Just look at the nominees: “Milk” (gay rights), “Slumdog Millionaire (poverty), “Frost/Nixon” (political scandal), “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” (don’t take life for granted darn it), and “The Reader” (Nazi soldiers have feelings too). “The Dark Knight” was about the fine line between good and evil, but obviously the Academy doesn’t want to think too much on the subject. I found out these nominations the hard way: I woke up at 5:30am to watch them be announced live. Within minutes of “The Dark Knight’s” snub the internet was ablaze with harsh comments and criticisms. By the time I got back from school it seemed the world was in an uproar.

Ironically, the snubbing of “The Dark Knight” has made this years Oscars more newsworthy then it would have been if it HAD been nominated! This is going to hurt the Oscars, and they’ll feel that sting for a long time. People are already planning on boycotting the show (which means ABC isn’t going to be making much money off their new advertising policy). I predict fans picketing the AMPAS building for weeks, demanding a recount. Several Oscar sites and blogs have even threatened to not post any news on this years Oscars out of total disgust. I’m actually contemplating not having my yearly Oscar party. I’m too disgusted right now to toy with the idea of watching an awards show that goes out of it’s way to tick off the movie going public.

That’s not the point though. No, the point is people are going to complaining about this snub for weeks. They might still be talking about all the way to next year. It raises so many questions, so many concerns, that the Academy might have no choice but to make some drastic decisions or risk losing all credibility. They’ve already taken a giant leap towards irrelevance with this choice, and something tells me that leap is going to slip, slide, and spiral down a tube so fast the Academy won’t know what hit them. So I encourage everyone: I want to you all to go to your blogs, your websites, your post office, and get mad. Get mad, let the Academy feel your anger. Personally, I’m going to open a window and show “Hey Academy, I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any longer!”