1. The Show - God, where do I even begin? I guess I'll just start with the obvious, so that I never, ever have to think about it again. The Will Smith/Chris Rock fiasco. There are obviously more important things going on in the world, but I think this moment really accentuated a very real issue of how to deal with situations that are nuanced and complicated, and boy, have we taken a turn for the worse. At this point, the situation, in my eyes, is done - both have apologized, both admitted to being in the wrong, both have committed to doing better going forward. My issue,
now, is the mishandling of the situation by the Academy, and the very vocal group of people who think it's okay to assault someone over an insensitive joke. Here's what
should have happened - instead of Rock continuing to announce the category of Best Documentary Feature, they should have just cut to a commercial and asked Smith to leave. I don't care what Rock said, how bad it was, etc., you can't just assault someone at, essentially, a work event, or
anywhere. And, maybe after reviewing the situation for a few minutes, ask Rock to leave too (it was not a rehearsed and approved joke, and I'm pretty sure they have standards for the jokes allowed to tell on stage i.e - not making fun of someone's health condition, which is
why they don't hire comedians like Rock and Gervais to host anymore). My point is that they absolutely should NOT have continued the show as if
nothing happened. I don't think it was necessary to get the cops involved, and was relieved that Rock had no interest in pressing charges over being bitch-slapped. But to just let Smith continue sitting there, laughing and hugging his colleagues, and then allowed his Oscar moment, was sort of shocking. I also don't think his Oscar should be taken away??? I'm reading now that there is an "investigation" into the incident, but that's so unnecessary - we all saw what happened, LIVE, and they missed their opportunity to handle it appropriately. They've awarded Oscars to far worse people and have never revoked an Oscar before (that I know of, at least). So, here's my other issue - a joke is a joke, even if it offends you, it's still a joke. The joke in question, a joke that Will, himself, laughed at until he saw that it upset his wife, should have just been booed by the audience (it
wasn't even a good joke - a
G.I Jane joke in the year 2022? and also G.I Jane was fucking hot! How was that even an insult?), and everyone could have moved on (and also Smith could have absolutely humiliated Rock in his speech - by almost keeping the exact same speech he gave about protecting his family. He could have stood up for his wife in that moment and would have probably been given a standing ovation. I mean, he got standing ovations anyway, for some reason, but still he would have been seen as heroic). But guess what? People are saying that Smith was *right* for assaulting him because it
wasn't a joke, instead it was
verbal assault. Yup. You read that right. Verbal assault. Words have no meaning anymore, apparently. I know lines get crossed in comedy - but to define an insulting joke as "assault" is wildly inappropriate and incorrect. Verbal assault implies a threat of direct violence or abuse, and is also said with malicious intent, often uses foul or inappropriate language, is spoken with a loud or threatening tone, etc. I'm not even looking up the exact definition, this is just...common knowledge. It's really, really disturbing that this is how people are perceiving jokes nowadays. Okay, I'm done with that. It's a huge shame that it overshadowed the rest of the show, I honestly barely remember anything that happened after that. But overall, I think the whole vibe of the show was really disrespectful to film. I think the Academy need to realize that they are
never going to have the ratings they used to have. Obviously, they should try to appeal to younger audiences, but to just ignore concerns from leading directors, actors, fans, about
why it's so necessary to air all of the categories live is just really, really disrespectful. And a lot of the things they did to appeal to a younger audience backfired - why exactly was Megan Thee Stallion there to rap during a kid's song that
wasn't even nominated? And why not hire hosts that appeal to younger people?? Personally, I love Wanda Sykes (but she did a horrible job), but she's not exactly popular among 20 year olds? And Amy Schumer is actually, actively
disliked by a younger audience - I think she actually did a much better job than I was expecting. I think *the only* time I laughed were from her jokes ("they hired three women because it would be cheaper than one man", calling Jake and Maggie Gyllenhaal a couple, her burn of
Being the Ricardos, and the "did I miss anything?" quip. I also laughed when they told Dame Judi Dench that she has to take advice from Kim Kardashian and "work harder", but I think that might have been Regina?). The flow of the show was all over the place - why did they open with a musical number from a nominated song instead of a montage celebrating film? why didn't they have Billie Eilish perform her Bond song in connection with their "60 years of Bond" montage? And why didn't they have someone connected with Bond introduce it??? Dench is
in the audience! Why did they insult animation as something that adults have to endure while kids watch it on repeat
during the category for animation (in which the second best film in the category,
Flee, is not even for children)? I, unlike seemingly everyone else, actually liked that the In Memoriam montage was more upbeat and personal (although at that point I don't know a single person that was actually watching it), it seemed more like a celebration of life instead of the downer that it usually is. Let's see...what else? Oh yeah, the whole goal of making the show shorter, again, backfired spectacularly. It's so easy to see what could have been cut - to make room for all of the categories, and keep the show running on time. And...can't they get in some kind of trouble for touting the awards as "live" when a large portion of it wasn't??? How are they getting away with that? I actually have so many other notes to comment on (like the dumb as fuck twitter Oscar polls that were featured), but I'm mentally exhausted, so...moving on.
2. The Winners - The other disappointing thing about this show, is that it featured absolutely NO surprise wins. Usually there is one or two (I feel like the Supporting Actor/Actress category always features a surprise, but sometimes others too). As someone who doesn't really like how awards season has been playing out, I was desperate for a shocking win. Denzel or Andrew in Actor, Kristen or Jessie in Supporting Actress etc. Also, Dune winning Best Picture? I'm not a huge fan of it, but it doesn't make a bit of sense that it won almost all technical categories, yet wasn't nominated for Director, and wasn't a frontrunner for Best Picture. Instead a movie that I could have made won. CODA is a fine movie. I actually liked it, but as a Best Picture contender?? I can't think of one exceptional thing about it. The only wins I was actually rooting for were Jessica Chastain (although I would have been happy with any of those actresses minus Kidman) and Cruella for Costume. I also love Questlove (I have not watched Summer of Soul yet, but Questlove deserves all of the awards all the time - I just read his book Music is History, and I loved it - he's just so passionate in everything he does). Another passionate winner...Riz Ahmed! Is an Oscar winner!! YES. Next up, an acting award. He's incredible.
3. The Fashion - I have two very surprising favorite looks of the night. I guess the first one isn't all that surprising, because I adore her so much, but I thought Lily James looked absolutely stunning. But the reason I'm surprised is because I don't even actually like the dress. The color, the floral applique, the high slit, with that necklace - it shouldn't work, in theory, but I don't know...she just looked gorgeous. The second one is Kristen Stewart. I mean, has anyone ever shown up to the Oscars in short shorts before??? The rebelliousness of it is hilarious, but also...she looked great! Legs for days, still somehow glamorous while staying true to who she is and how she can be as comfortable as possible at an extremely uncomfortable event. Other looks I loved: Olivia Colman - the dress, makeup and hair, all just perfect and effortless looking. Simu Liu in the red suit - love it. Zendaya - seemed to play it a little safe, but she still looked gorgeous and chic. But, of course, there are some looks that failed, for me. The mermaid dress worn by Jessica Chastain is, honestly, hideous. I love her to death, but it's just so ugly. A usual fashionable icon, Tracee Ellis Ross, wore a spectacularly ill-fitted dress. Billie Eilish with the garbage bag dress (personally, I prefer over-sized dresses over skin-tight, but this look was a mess). And it's odd that Kristen Stewart can pull off not only short shorts, but a blazer with no shirt, while Timothee showed up with no shirt and I cringed with disgust.
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