Song of the day:
Recapping the Oscars
Well. If you watched last night’s show then you know what happened. And you’re probably still processing it because WOW. I can honestly say I’ve never seen anything like that happen during the Oscars. And because I’m sitting over here in the cheap seats with my white privilege I’m going to let y’all do your own research and draw your own conclusions about what happened last night. Here are my brief thoughts:
Chris Rock made a wholly inappropriate joke about a woman who has been very open about her disease, alopecia. A disease that from what I understand is quite painful; painful enough to make a Black woman shave her head. This wasn’t the first time he’s made a joke at her expense, bullied her in fact, and Will Smith’s anger was justified. He had every right to defend Jada, even to cuss out Chris Rock from his seat, but he absolutely should not have taken the stage and hit him. That is never, ever okay. It was shocking to watch it happen in real time.
The Oscar producers could have also handled the situation better. As soon as Will got up they should have cut the telecast. They then should have brought someone else on stage to give out the best documentary award. Keeping Chris Rock out there was not smart. If they would have cut the telecast they could have taken better control of the situation. Instead, they let a great documentary win get overshadowed then left it to the next presenter, who tried to smooth it over before introducing the tribute to the The Godfather. You know, a film that glorifies violence. Which the Academy says they do not condone. Sigh.
Now, let’s talk about the rest of it…
From my perspective, the three hosts were not great. Maybe I’m too old, but their jokes were bordering on offensive in a lot of ways - joking about COVID testing? Really? I felt like there were too many little bits that didn’t work and quite frankly, made an already long show even longer. They could have done away with all those bits and actually fully televised the eight awards they announced before the telecast started. This show was better without a host, as most award shows are. I’m probably in the minority on this, as I saw a lot of posts raving about some of the jokes, but here we are.
I also need to express my confusion and disappointment with how they presented “We Don’t Talk About Bruno.” For days they had promoted that it was going to be the first live performance of the song, and while it didn’t make any sense since it wasn’t nominated for anything I figured it would still be cool to see all the voice actors performing live on stage. And I got that. For the first few lines of the song. And then it became something else entirely. There was a rap that was added, and other verses that were about the Oscars, not the movie, not Bruno, and it was not the song at all. We didn’t get to hear the “Seven foot frame, rats along his back” line, which is one of many classic lines that make that song great. It was very colorful, and there were a lot of good dancers, but other than that, it served no purpose. And if parents let their kids stay up because they thought it was gonna be the actual song, well, I’m sure that was disappointing for everyone.
I was also not a fan of the In Memoriam format. Usually that time is quiet and reflective, and it started that way, but then it became something else. The choir was good, and I liked the music itself, but we didn’t see enough of the people who passed and left their mark on the industry. It felt like the singing overshadowed the people being remembered. I understand wanting to celebrate those who passed and not make it too sad, but the fact is, it is sad that they passed. Again, maybe I’m too old to be watching this show anymore. Maybe I’m no longer the target audience.
As far as the awards themselves, it pretty much went the way I expected. I was thrilled for CODA winning the best picture and best supporting actor awards. Troy Kotsur swept the award shows and is truly awesome. If you haven’t seen this movie yet, please do. It’s truly beautiful.
I was happy for Jessica Chastain, and would like to see the movie she won for, The Eyes of Tammy Faye. I mean it also has Andrew Garfield, who I was hoping might sneak in and win best actor. Ah well.
I figured Encanto would win for the animated movie, but I think that could have gone to any of the films. I saw four of the five and loved them all. The only one I didn’t see was Flee, but it’s on my list. I’ve heard it’s excellent.
I was hoping the song from Encanto would win for best original song, but in my heart I knew it would go to the Bond song, and it did. I don’t hate the song (it’s the song of the day in case you were wondering), but I liked the other song better. I very rarely like the song that wins that category so no biggie.
I didn’t see The Power of the Dog so don’t know if that best director award made sense, but I did see the best documentary, Summer of Soul, and absolutely loved it. I also didn’t see Dune which won pretty much every technical award possible. I still have no desire to see it but it must look and sound amazing.
Anyway, that was definitely an interesting night, one that will be talked about a lot in the coming days and weeks. I’d love to know your thoughts. Let me know in the comments.
Video of the day:
It is amazing how we get glimpses of how our country is deteriorating in many ways. But, when God is taken out of the mainstream of a culture, there is no way except down.