Will 'The Martian' Get Any Love from the Oscars?

In a just world, here are the Oscar nominations The Martian would get:
Best Picture
Best Actor - Matt Damon
Best Supporting Actor - Chiwetel Ejiofor
Best Director
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Editing
Best Cinematography
and why not, Best Original Score

In reality, I'm not sure if any of these things will happen. The Oscars are notorious for ignoring genre movies these days and for being extremely fickle and forgetful. On paper, The Martian feels very Oscar friendly, and not in a bad way either. The film is a box office success ($320 million worldwide and counting) and critically acclaimed (93% on Rotten Tomatoes). Director Ridley Scott is a veteran and the cast is stacked with name actors and promising up-and-comers. From all angles, The Martian feels like it could be a genuine Oscar and audience hit. But for some reason, I feel like it could be left out during the arduous Oscar race.

If The Martian had come out in the 1990s, then for sure it would be nominated for Best Picture and possibly would have won. But now I can see how the film doesn't seem "important" enough. It's a pretty straight forward story, with one basic goal and a whole group of people trying to achieve it.The film is earnest, without any outright villains. There is some internal conflict at NASA, where different departments at NASA are looking out for different interests. But, still, everyone is basically a decent person trying to do their best in a complicated, difficult situation.

This has the effect of The Martian feeling slight. Even the life or death situation that Matt Damon's character faces is balanced with his determination for survival and general sense of humor. Personally, I found this a rather refreshing change of pace after the grim tones of Interstellar (which I liked) and Gravity (which I loved). However, I think the Academy will look past the serious undertones of The Martian and give nominations to films that seem more serious and important on paper.

Granted, the Oscar season has just started so it's too soon to tell what the nominations will look like. Maybe The Martian will get shut out, maybe it'll get a few nominations, maybe it'll get a dozen. I can only speculate why The Martian will get shut out if it does. I think we all know the general types of films that get nominated: biopics, straight dramas, showbiz movies and war movies. Sci-fi adventures are rare to see at the Academy Awards. Gravity got in because of its game-changing technical achievements and for its poignant themes. Also its box office glory and critical acclaim was hard to write off. Interstellar, on the other hand, was perceived a critical and financial disappointment (despite actual evidence to the contrary) so it only got a few technical nominations. The Martian is closer to Gravity than to Interstellar, but it lacks either film's buzz for technical achievements.

I'm just afraid that The Martian's more lighthearted, or rather, optimistic tone might work against it. For sure I think it should get some technical nominations. And I think Drew Goddard's script is a sure thing (but I also said that about Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl script). The Martian feels like it should be a top contender because the audience and critical reaction was glowing. It's star-studded, made by a veteran director (whose last few films were bombs) and has crowd-pleasing and effective themes. It's already one of my favorite films of the year and, Oscar nominations or not, will not be easily forgotten.

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