Whenever something as glitzy and overblown as The Oscars are discussed, jaded people who will watch regardless of their favorite film losing the award always say the same thing; the Oscars don’t matter, so who cares? To be fair, they do have a point. Essentially, this overly decadent awards show is nothing more than a big televised circle jerk where rich Hollywood celebrities hand each other gold statues to imply some type of importance to the work they’ve received that very award for. However, I’m of the belief that they mean a whole lot more than that, and that there is a possibility for the Academy to actually do some good.
As far as awards shows go, it’s fair to say that the Academy Awards are easily the most popular in terms of viewing numbers and memorable moments. Sure, the Grammys and Emmys do come close, but ever since the Kanye/Swift debacle in 2009, there hasn’t really been a moment in either of these ceremonies that has made national news in a while. With the Oscars, it seems like something crazy happens every few years.
To me, the most iconic Oscar moment of the decade was the 2017 Best Picture award announcement for a few reasons. That year, the conversation only seemed to be about two movies; La La Land and Moonlight. Despite both of these being great films, the world was divided on who they wanted to win and who they knew would win, and as for the latter, it seemed like everyone knew that the trophy would go to La La Land, and for a moment, it did. That was until Jordan Horrowitz who realized the mistake as soon as everyone finished their speeches yanked the cue card out of a confused Warren Beatty’s hand and yelled the words we all know by heart; “There’s been a mistake! Moonlight, you guys won best picture!”
Not since Michael Moore’s Bush rant during his acceptance speech for Bowling for Columbine has there been such a shocking and controversial moment. When this happened, I was completely unsure how to feel. On the one hand, I loved both films, but I was so conflicted because I can sympathize with the sheer disappointment of thinking you’ve won and then immediately having that victory snatched from you. However, as the years have gone by, I’ve realized that Moonlight’s win is easily the most culturally impactful to ever happen, and if the Academy continued to go down this road, maybe people’s thoughts on them would have softened a little bit. However, just two years later, they disappointed everyone again by awarding the notorious feel good white savior movie Green Book with the award for Best Picture.
This might be an overstatement, but the air was completely sucked out of the room with the announcement that this film won in the same way it was when Trump won the presidency. There was a mixture of shock and confusion, but mostly disappointment, because in terms of racial awareness in film and among the Academy, this felt like a step backwards. This mostly has to do with the fact that the director of this “story of acceptance” was Peter Farrely, a white man known for slapstick comedies and showing his genitals to unsuspecting women. To me, someone who’s loved watching the Oscars for almost their entire life, this was a massive blow, because I know they can do better, and here’s how.
What Moonlight’s win meant to me and many others was that the Academy was taking a step in the right direction. The fact that a film about a young gay black man on a production budget of only 1.5 Million dollars could have the mainstream crossover appeal that it did is astounding, and it shows that there is room for original and innovative filmmaking in an industry that seems to be preoccupied with cranking out disposable blockbusters as of late. The impact of this win was seen just a year later when A24’s next big film Lady Bird, a film directed by a woman on a budget of a slightly bigger but still relatively small 10 Million had even more mainstream appeal and made almost 50 Million at the box office.
Essentially, the argument that I’m trying to make with this piece is that those who have power should use it, and despite the mainstream attention being focused somewhere that we may not like now, there’s always a way to make a difference. However, the Academy aren’t the only ones with that power, we have it as well. Audiences need to be more proactive in looking for films by people of marginalized groups so that everyone has the ability to share their voice. For those who may not know where to start, below I will link some info on a few different films by people from marginalized groups that are coming out in the near future, and deserve our support.
I hope you find these helpful and continue supporting people whose voices deserve to be heard.
Links: Points of Research
Green Book’s win: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-oscars-green-book-worst-best-picture-winner-20190224-story.html
Moonlight’s Win: https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/2018/02/28/we-were-there-how-worst-flub-oscar-history-went-down/377305002/
Films to Look Out For:
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019) Dir. Marielle Heller https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3224458/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1
Little Women (2019) Dir. Greta Gerwig https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3281548/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1
Abominable (2019) Dir. Jill Culton https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6324278/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1
Saint Maud (2019) Dir. Rose Glass https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7557108/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1
Hustlers (2019) Dir. Lorena Scafara https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5503686/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1
Radioactive (2019) Dir. Marjane Satrapi https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6017756/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1
Just Mercy (2019) Dir. Destin Daniel Cretton https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4916630/?ref_=tt_sims_tti
Harriet (2019) Dir. Kesi Lemmons https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4648786/?ref_=tt_sims_tti
Jojo Rabbit (2019) Dir. Taika Waititi https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2584384/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_3
Clemency (2019) Dir. Chinonye Chukwu https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5577494/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019) Dir. Celinne Sciamma https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8613070/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1
Matthias & Maxime (2020) Dir. Xavier Dolan https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8767908/?ref_=nv_sr_2?ref_=nv_sr_2
Shirley (2020) Dir. Josephine Decker https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8430598/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_1
Never, Rarely, Sometimes, Always (2020) Dir. Eliza Hittman https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7772582/?ref_=nm_flmg_dr_1
The Last Thing He Wanted (2020) Dir. Dee Rees https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7456312/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1
Tigers are Not Afraid (2019) Dir. Issa Lopez https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4823434/?ref_=tt_sims_tt
The Rhythm Section (2020) Dir. Reed Morano https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7134096/