Rocketman, Pain & Glory Nab Oscar Noms But Straight Male Stories Ruled

Oscar nominations came out on Monday and centered on straight white male directors and stories.

The Dexter Fletcher-directed Rocketman, a biopic of Elton John, received only one nomination for this year's Academy Awards. The one nod came in the Best Original Song category for "(I'm Gonna) Love Me Again," an original piece written by John and Bernie Taupin and performed by John with Taron Egerton, who plays the singer-songwriter on-screen.

But in the other categories, the Academy snubbed Fletcher and Egerton. Many expected a nomination for Best Costume Design, according to Entertainment Weekly, with the film re-creating many of John's legendary glam looks from the 1960s, '70s and '80s.

Nominations did, however, reflect some support for queer representation on-screen, though often for performances by straight actors.

Antonio Banderas received a Best Actor nomination for his portrayal of a gay man struggling with chronic pain in out director Pedro Almodovar's semi-autobiographical Pain and Glory.

Margot Robbie picked up a Best Supporting Actress nod for Bombshell, where her sexually fluid character Kayla has sex with a lesbian coworker played by Kate McKinnon.

The Academy also gave multiple nominations for the queerest and most feminist version of Little Women to date. That film made the nomination list for Best Picture, while Greta Gerwig was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, Saoirse Ronan for Best Actress, Florence Pugh for Best Supporting Actress, and the film for Best Costume Design and Best Original Score. Gerwig did not receive a Best Director nomination, however.

Cynthia Erivo was nominated for her work in Harriet, a biopic on American heroine Harriet Tubman, in the Best Actress category. Bong Joon Ho's Parasite, a South Korean-set film on income and class disparity, received several nominations. A surprise snub in the Best Supporting Actress category was Jennifer Lopez in Hustlers, a fan favorite.

It was stories like Joker, centering on straight male rage, and Once Upon a Time ...in Hollywood, which focused on a character played by Brad Pitt who possibly killed his wife and SPOILER ALERT beats and kills female Manson followers at the end of Quentin Tarantino's 1969-set film, that received the most prestigious nominations.

See a full list of nominations, which also include 1917, The Irishman, and Marriage Story,here.