By Ellie Miller '24
“And the Oscar for Best Picture goes to….” is a heart-stopping, highly anticipated phrase that everyone knows, whether they care about Hollywood or not. In the weeks leading up to the Oscars, an annual award ceremony that honors the best film has to offer, millions of people wait to see which of their favorite celebrities won in the Oscar’s twenty-four categories. Most tune in to get a glimpse into Hollywood's glamour, and usually, the industry lives up to the expectation.
This year, however, was different. We all knew it would be strange; we’re in a global pandemic, so the normal format of the ceremony (packing 3,400 nominees and their guests into a Los Angeles theater) was not an option. Still, this ceremony was flawed in ways that the pandemic couldn’t be held accountable. Let’s take a look at just a few of the problem areas that made this year’s ceremony so disappointing.
The red carpet ceremony, which is normally where most of the glitz and glam are shown off, was clumsy. The interviews, held between an awkwardly socially distanced interviewer and nominee, were interrupted by performances of famous songs from nominated soundtracks. While the performances were engaging, that was just about the only part of the pre-show that was worth watching. Without the satisfying clicks of paparazzi Canons and the flashes of bulbs on sparkling garments, the red carpet felt wildly unnecessary.
This ceremony also fell short because it was long. Although technically the ceremony was the same length it’s always been (three hours), this year’s felt a lot longer. The culprit: there were no interstitial videos or performances from past years, so this ceremony was more or less three straight hours of biographies on nominees. It certainly didn’t help that winners weren’t played off the stage when their acceptance speeches ran long. Some stayed brief, such as Chloe Zhao, who won Best Director for her work on Nomadland. Zhao kept her nostalgic and blessedly succinct speech under two minutes, which felt like a breath of fresh air amongst other nominees who weren’t so concise. Daniel Kaluuya’s speech for Best Supporting Actor, while beautiful, went on for way too long. The Judas and the Black Messiah actor spoke for four minutes, which may not seem long until you realize that, under normal circumstances, the orchestra would drown out winners after 45 seconds.
Chadwick Boseman, who is best known for his work in Black Panther, was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Boseman sadly died of colon cancer in August 2020, which came as a huge shock to the public. Of course, just because an award is to be presented posthumously doesn’t mean the late nominee will win. But what suggests a win is imminent is when the entire structure of the show is re-worked around highlighting the award the late nominee is up for. The Oscar for Best Picture is almost always presented last, which is why it was highly unusual when this year, the awards for Best Actress in a Leading Role and Best Actor in a Leading Role were presented after. The only logical explanation for this change would be that Chadwick Boseman was going to win his first and last Oscar, and the night would cap off with a soaring and emotional tribute that would go down in history.
Imagine everyone’s surprise when Joaquin Phoenix, who presented the award, opened the golden envelope and read off Anthony Hopkins’s name. No one, not even Hopkins (who was asleep at his home in Wales when he won the award), saw this coming. This isn’t to say that Hopkins didn’t deserve the award. Anyone who’s watched his performance in The Father would agree that it was riveting. Still, the fact that the entire show was re-worked for Chadwick Boseman not to win came off as deeply awkward. At worst, it came off as the Oscars leading all of Boseman’s supporters on in a twisted, borderline disrespectful end to an already floundering evening.
From the absence of true charm to the tedious length to the confusing snub of a beloved and recently deceased icon, the 2021 Oscars simply didn’t work. There’s only one thing I can give the Oscars is that this ceremony certainly served as an escape: with all the time some of us spent hating on it, there was less time to worry about the state of the world. For that, I do owe the Oscars some thanks.
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