The 92nd Oscars In Review

There wasn’t a snowball’s chance in hell I was penning an article about the Oscars directly following the Oscars. As CJ pointed out on Thursday, there are advantages to West Coast viewing. As my usual bedtime is around ten, burning the midnight oil would probably have been unproductive. So, for everyone’s sake, I’ve given myself a few days to let the show marinate.

To start, I’d like to give a special screw you to Disney+ for their thirty-second reminder that Up still has emotional power over me. Yeah. I cried. I would have felt more embarrassed about it, except right toward the end, I heard a particular sniff from the couch cushion next to me. Adam has the same Up affliction I do. Thank God it only aired once at the top of the broadcast.

Anyway. Back to the Oscars.

The Oscars have a problem. This is hardly a new idea. This sentence has been repeated over and over since the nominees were released. But, it’s true none the less. And I’m going to take a crack at that problem. Well, alright. To be more accurate, the Oscars have a whole bunch of issues.

For a show dedicated to celebrating creativity and bold storytelling, the showrunners seem to be lacking both in spades. There was the debacle last year with Kevin Hart, which ended in the decision to limp along without a host. I’m not going to go down that rabbit hole except to look at the choice The Academy made in dealing with the controversy.

They opted to issue an ultimatum to Hart to set the situation right himself. Effectively saying, “We don’t want this shit on our shoe.” Ratings have been dropping steadily for years, so I’m sure they were focused on avoiding a boycott. They might have won viewers if they had opted to take the head-on approach. But, nothing they could do about that, it’s in the past.

Well, that’s not exactly true. Fast forward a year, and we find ourselves in another debacle. This time not with the host, because they are going to wait for resurrection technology and schlep poor Bob Hope out every year. Instead with the nominees.

In ninety-two years, there have been a whopping five female nominees in the best director category and only one winner. With those stats, why is this year so special? Greta Gerwig and Little Women. She garnered nominations for writing, and Little Women was up for Best Picture, but no director nod for her. Yet, Tarantino got a nod for writing, directing, and Best Picture. This snub didn’t sit well with a lot of folks, including yours truly. (Her work was better than Scorsese’s. I’m sorry. It was.)

But the subject of women wasn’t where the problem started or ended. Diversity was severely lacking this year. Stephen King did a pretty good deep dive on why The Academy still lags behind in a Washington Post opinion piece. His piece was in response to the hot water he got into on Twitter about Academy voting, proving that 149 characters can make everyone, including Steven King, look like a jerk. But regardless of motives for writing the piece, he puts out some interesting stats. The voting body isn’t diverse, so how can their choices be?

The show soldiered on despite the grumbles, again hostless but still clinging to the ubiquitous format. Janelle Monae kicked off the show with a tribute to Mr. Rogers that faded into a lively song and dance number. Say what you want about the haphazardly themed backup dancers, it made no difference to me. Her performance was amazing and fun. Janelle didn’t need lights, she brightened up the whole stage. She could have led the entire show, and she would have been fantastic.

The audience was a bit stiff, except, of course, the lovely Rita Wilson. But when you think of all of the double-sided tape holding things in place, it only seems reasonable they were emulating rocks.

Things were going so well. And then they had Steve Martin and Chris Rock come on to provide the scheduled stand up. This was in no way organic nor comfortable. I could feel the teleprompter rolling on with the lines from three thousand miles away. Awkward doesn’t begin to cover it. When they delivered the vagina punchline, it produced a laugh and a nod of the head.

But, when I thought about it. The comedy bit was poking fun at their own choices. Members of the Academy are sitting in that room. I would even guess that Martin and Rock are both members themselves. That joke could have been avoided if they had made different choices. So, their response to this round of controversy is to condemn their actions by a lackluster joke?

Jesus, if you are going to do that, at least get Ricky Gervais to deliver it. Or someone who could put some heat on the lines.

It didn’t stop there. As an olive branch, the Academy deigned to let a female conductor do a single segment of the show. While this was a first, really, a feature spot? That’s all the space you’re willing to make?

This is probably reading as harsh and, in a way, it is. I love watching this show. I’ve tuned in for as long as I can remember. My hairbrush and shampoo bottle had stood in for the mic and statue. I park my butt down two hours early to watch the red carpet. I can’t say no to watching a sea of beautiful gowns. But this year’s Oscars showed how out of touch it has become.

If they want the ratings to stop its downward trend, this is not the way. The Oscar format of the last twenty years had a good long run. It’s time to find new ways to celebrate achievement. If I’m not mistaken, the Academy is a collection of artistic peeps, so I would think it wouldn’t be hard to track them down.

It also wouldn’t hurt to get over the paralyzing fear of the monster that has become Twitter. This point is easier said than done. I say Twitter, but the other social media platforms have a bit of this too, just not on the same level. It’s fostering a bullying atmosphere. And getting out of the bullying cycle is incredibly hard.

I’m not saying ignore what’s being said on the social media platform. Feedback is a great way to learn and grow. But that’s not what’s happening. No discourse is possible, so how can anyone change? It’s just like being back at school trying your damnedest not to be noticed.

But, there should be a way for this show to rise above that. Find a constructive way to take in the feedback and grow the show to be inclusive rather than bow down to it and hide their heads in the sand.

And so, I’ll step off the good old soapbox and end on some positive notes. Parasite, CJ’s pick to win, took home the big prize of the evening. I didn’t dance the same jig CJ described on Thursday, but I was excited that it won. Well deserving of top honors. Its director a true gentleman in his acceptance speech.

Although if they were giving out awards for best speech, Boon Joon Ho would have lost to Brad Pitt. He had been on fire all season, even when not in attendance. His speech, delivered by Margo Robbie, for the BAFTA win was both cheeky and grateful. His speech on the big night in the States again struck an excellent balance between gratitude, humor, and political statements.

Joaquin, hopefully, you were taking notes on how it’s done.

My celebration came early in the evening in the Animated Short category with Hair Love taking the Oscar. They did a fantastic job of bringing their project to life. I want to see more from this creative team. If you haven’t seen this short yet, go find it!

I love the performances of the Best Song nominees. This year’s field was particularly strong. Cynthia Erivo was a vision on the red carpet and a powerhouse on stage. Harriet was one of the movies on my list I missed, which is a shame and is still at the top of my list to see. I really thought she was going to topple Elton John for the win.

But, Elton John answered in the only way Elton John knows. All in. Fantastic performance, as always.

Idina Menzel and Aurora came on to perform Into the Unknown but were joined on stage by the other voice actresses responsible for bringing Elsa to life around the world. I don’t think this is a one-off from Disney either. On their new string of shorts, the credits include all of the voice actors involved in the short. I liked the different voices and languages coming together in harmony. A beautiful visual of being different but having commonalities. I mean really, when it comes down to it, don’t we all just want to let it go and be Elsa?

And that’s a wrap!