It has often been said that Christopher Nolan seems to have a strained relationship with the Oscars. It seems that the Oscars are not too fond of directors that are already popular. Nolan is already popular. In fact, he has just gotten a nomination in the Oscar but like what people expected, he lost.
The main reason why the Oscars may be snubbing Nolan and other popular filmmakers with popular films is that they want to recognize those who are following genres more. Nolan is able to make films that are ambitious but are still appreciated by the general public. Perhaps this is something that the Oscars cannot appreciate just yet.
From the outside, it may just seem like the Academy has some kind of secret bias against Christopher Nolan, but the truth is that he has a rather complicated relationship with them. Christopher Nolan, the huge star behind huge successes Dark Night and Inception, has never actually been awarded an Oscar.
Most of the complaints stem from his movies not being able to accurately convey the emotion that Nolan has in mind. So it leaves the audience feeling confused and even disconnected from the story, which leaves them unable to identify with the story or characters.