Fincher also did Zodiac and was nominated for Benjamin Button (as horribly Oscar bait as that was), he's very highly regarded as a director and so the success of The Social Network is a good excuse to reward him for his career to date. Aaronofsky is also highly regarded, but at a far more cult level, he's only now starting to get much wider recognition, which Fincher has had for years - and The Fountain wasn't exactly snubbed for anything, it was a critical and commercial bomb.
And my point about Nolan is that after The Dark Knight and Inception many in the Academy will now (unfairly) see him as a popcorn peddler rather than a SERIOUS FILM MAKER (Oscars love these), just like Spielberg was seen in the early 80s. Yes, Nolan's films are very different to say Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. but Academy voters are a bit dim and sometimes just see the box office figures and the action components of a film.





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