Oscarathon 2019: Final Oscar Thoughts

In All, Movies by David

A chaotic awards season has come to an end. This season has been full of many ups and downs (okay, mainly downs), but it finally ended with the Academy showing it has learned… nothing. After taking some time to reflect (and rage), here are my final thoughts before putting the 2019 Awards season to bed.

The Academy is at War with Itself

This has been building for a while, and this year it truly came to a head. If you really look at the results, it almost seems as if there were two Oscars happening at the same time. Well, that is because there are in a lot of ways two Academies. One is the group that skews younger and more diverse, and which got a major boost from the changes in membership rules in 2015 that were designed to bring in, well, younger and more diverse people. Then there is the group that is, umm, old and white (and likely male, but actually in this one case the old and white likely matter more–though, white males tend to suck, so the gender gap doesn’t help matters). The younger group is almost certainly what allowed Moonlight to win over La La Land two years ago, but the older group still showed its power by ensuring Casey Affleck held on for his win. And just to show why this is such a weird group, both probably are why The Salesman won as a kind of fuck you to Donald Trump. Last year the two groups clashed again, and much of their conflict was based around Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. That film was very well-made but had extremely problematic racial politics (in other words, more or less a better version of Green Book), and over the course of the race it went from Best Picture frontrunner to only winning two acting awards.

At the time, it looked like that event had signaled that, if nothing else, the newer members had gained the upper hand. Then, well, Green Book won Best Picture and Bohemian Rhapsody won the most Oscars of the night, so clearly this is not as true as it appeared. So what the hell is going on? First off, last year clearly was not as instructive as it once looked. One factor is that Three Billboards is not nearly the feel-good crowd-pleaser that Green Book and I guess technically Bohemian Rhapsody are, even if Three Billboards does have a relatively uplifting ending. More importantly, though, Three Billboards‘ Best Picture loss was also The Shape of Water‘s win, a win that simply shows how great a love all the voters in the Academy have for Guillermo del Toro. So the rumblings about voters being annoyed at being told not to vote for in 2018 probably were true, but they were more okay with it then because of the desire to reward del Toro. This year, however, offered no such option, as even Spike Lee lacks the overall respect and likeability that del Toro has. Combine this with a lack of consensus over what the best film was (or a lack of enough of a consensus for Roma to get voters to look past their bias against Netflix), and voters went with what made them feel good no matter what, and didn’t want to be told that such feelings were flawed for any reason.

So where does that leaves us? Honestly, I am not even sure, because as bad as all this was, these Oscars were one of the most inclusive Oscars of all time. In 2015 there were no non-white actors nominated for Oscars, but in 2019 three of the four acting winners were non-white. A record 15 women won Oscars this year. Production designer Hannah Beachler and costume designer Ruth Carter became only the second and third African American women to win non-acting Oscars, for their work on Black Panther. They also were the first black winners ever in their categories, period. Spike Lee won his first Oscar, while Mahershala Ali became the second black actor to have two Oscars on his mantle (the other being Denzel Washington). Peter Ramsay became the first African-American to win for Best Animated Feature. Alfonso Cuarón continued the dominance of Mexicans in the Directing category, while also picking up two other Oscars for Roma. Rayka Zehtabchi and Melissa Berton won for a film about periods, for crying out loud, and Zehtabchi became the first Iranian-American woman to win any Oscar.

At some level, getting this excited about all these firsts is kind of sad, considering that minorities should be doing this well nearly every year, not noting 2019 as their high water mark. Still, progress doesn’t always happen at the pace we all might want, so all of this is still worth celebrating, and despite the end results of the night being so poor, there were a lot of positives that should be lauded and remembered. Not to do so would be to dishonor those achievements.

But this also shows how split the Academy is, as these results seem to be from a different Oscars entirely from the one that gave a combined seven Oscars to Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody. This battle is not going away for quite a while, as these two Academies are going to be at odds until, well, the older white voters start to die out and are replaced by a younger and more diverse cohort–unless we get more years with universally beloved figures like del Toro helming critically acclaimed movies. So while I wish I could say this is the last time a film like Green Book could win Best Picture, that would simply be a lie, as at some point white voters are going to want to feel better about themselves, and a film like this that offers easy answers is going to win once again. Then again, maybe if we just distract them with enough films that are love letters to Hollywood, they’ll be tricked into picking less problematic movies for that top prize. Either way, the one thing that is clear is that the Academy fucked up this year, and there is nothing we can really do about it except die inside and hope they won’t do it again (but yeah, it certainly will).

… But Seriously, Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody

It has been more than a week, and still… just why? Why do you have to make it so hard sometimes, Academy? Seriously, wtf? You have failed this planet.

Mood.

Maybe it doesn’t matter if you are hated so much as whether enough people make excuses for you

Honestly, the only thing about Green Book that is impressive is how prepared it was to immediately respond to criticism. Octavia Spencer was involved as some sort of producer who definitely didn’t get one of the producing Oscars, but could always be pointed to in order to make this film’s issues more palatable. Viggo Mortensen and Peter Farrelly tirelessly defended this film as much and loudly as they possibly could, most notably in Farrelly’s victory speeches. Mahershala Ali provided gravitas and poise as he clearly wanted another Oscar (which he got, so at least his efforts weren’t for nothing, I suppose). When criticism had built to a fever pitch, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar appeared to offer a defense, almost as if it was planned (spoiler: it likely was). Hell, even the Oscars producers tried to make this more appetizing by trotting out motherfucking John Lewis to introduce the film in the last Best Picture spot of the night to try and make a potential win as accepted as possible. Really this was a masterclass in how to handle controversy, as if you bring enough people out of the woodwork to defend your garbage movie, you can convince old, dumb voters that there is nothing to worry about, and that all the naysayers are just trying to tell you not to enjoy yourself at the movies. Every film should have a similar playbook ready going forward, because it clearly worked, and now we are left with another mistake as a Best Picture winner. Donald Trump would be proud of all of this, as Green Book clearly took much of his playbook to heart in order to get a Best Picture win. Yeah, you heard me Academy, you let Green Book pull a Trump and steal a victory it had no business winning. So I guess don’t bother removing problematic issues from your movies Hollywood, just make sure you have plenty of famous people around to shill for your movie and make excuses for any bullshit your films might have in them.

Spike Lee is all of us, and he is the best

Green Book’s win means there was a large amount of support for the film, and yet no one seemed particularly happy by this win. I mean, just look at Chadwick Boseman here.

That is a man that is just like, “this is some white people nonsense.”

And yet, no one was as mad as Spike Lee, who had to watch himself lose to another film about someone driving someone else. Lee tried to storm out of the building after this win because he was just not going to deal with the bullshit victory speech that was coming (and I feel him on this, I basically refused to watch it as well, and turned off the broadcast rather than listen to more nonsense from Peter Farrelly). Lee was eventually forced to return by ushers, presumably for security reasons, and then talked to Jordan Peele as both of them were probably just like, “what the hell is this shit.” Then after the show, Lee just kept going, saying that this was like watching a ref make a bad call at a Knicks game, while acknowledging he had had a bit too much to drink. Now look, was Spike being a bit of a sore loser? Kind of, but you really feel that if he lost to Roma he would have been fine, and honestly I would have probably tried to flip a nonexistent table if I was in his position, so I feel for him. This is especially sad because Lee won his first Oscar for writing that night, and was so damn happy about it–so to have the night end with a Green Book victory that honestly made everyone else’s victory seem a little less important (I mean, if Green Book is your Best Picture what does that say about the rest of your taste?) has just got to be so goddamn disappointing. Still, getting to watch someone with Lee’s clout react in the same way many of us would have reacted was definitely needed. Try to remember the good times, Spike…

Image result for spike lee samuel jackson oscar 2019

Just picture the Oscars ending on this moment. It makes it so much better.

SPIDER-VERSE!!!

Despite all of the garbage that happened during the night, one great thing did happen: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse won Best Animated Film, and thus the Academy at least avoided invalidating an entire category for the rest of time by yielding to the will of Pixar and Disney by picking Incredibles 2. Sure, I would have still preferred Mirai to win, which I simply say so that I get to mention Mirai once again, but this was a well-deserved win for a truly great movie that broke the Pixar/Disney monopoly in this category for the first time since Rango in 2011. After last year’s disastrous nominations, this year the category had five deserving nominees (okay, three deserving nominees and two nominations for Pixar and Disney movies that I can live with). The sight of Peter Ramsay getting to walk up and be the first African-American to win in this category, and the writers getting to talk about the importance of on-screen representation was a great moment. For one year, this category gets to be a shining beacon of hope and not a symbol of peak Academy laziness. Don’t worry, though, next year’s Oscars is primed to be a sequel-laden affair as voters get to decide between a completely unnecessary Toy Story 4 and the cultural phenomenon returned Frozen 2, plus a little How To Train Your Dragon 3 for one last chance to crush Dreamworks’ dreams (and the Lego Movie 2, just because). So I imagine next year this category will fall into old patterns. My only real hope is that maybe this time Makoto Shinkai can get a nomination for his new film after getting robbed two years ago. But honestly, there is a real chance next year may be exclusively sequel nominees, so be prepared. Back to Spider-Verse, though: this was awesome, so let’s enjoy it a bit longer.

Black Panther shines a light behind the scenes

For a brief moment early in the show, everything was going how it needed to for Black Panther, which needed as many wins as possible if it was going to pull off Best Picture. The film got off to a quick start with Best Production Design and Best Costumes wins. Of course, things came crashing down after that, but Black Panther did also pick up a win for Best Score to help secure the most wins ever for a superhero film. All three of these wins were well deserved, as the score, costumes, and production design are arguably the best parts of the movie, so it was nice to see all of them get honored. Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart created Wakanda for the screen, while Ruth Carter flawlessly created an Afrofuturist look that stood out the whole movie. Meanwhile, Ludwig Göransson helped show what happens if Marvel lets its movie have some personality in their scores, which hopefully is something that is allowed to continue. For such a popular movie that was the cultural phenomenon of last year, allowing the light to shine on some of the people behind the scenes that helped bring such an achievement to reality was a welcome touch.

We may never need a host again

I mean, there are some kinks to work out, like how you end the show (poor Julia Roberts), and maybe trying to infuse a bit more personality into the various awards announcements, but honestly, things worked just fine without a host. Opening the show with performances by Queen and Adam Lambert was a welcome change of pace, and all of the celebrities were ready for their moment. Things moved rather briskly, and as a person that cares about the awards above all, if this is what needs to happen in order to allow all of the awards to be announced and for winners to get to give whatever speech they want, permanently getting rid of the host seems like a better choice than all the other ideas the Academy has had. Still, it is also possible that this can only work every once in a while, because it is also true that this ceremony had no real personality, which could be a bad thing and could prove to be a problem going forward. Plus, Tina Fey, Maya Rudolph, Amy Poehler, Melissa McCarthy, Brian Tyree Henry, Awkwafina, and John Mulaney showed there are plenty of good hosting choices out there. So maybe the real answer is that this idea needs to be used every certain number of years just to keep things fresh, but is not something that can be relied on exclusively. Still, for one year, the Oscars certainly proved that a host was hardly necessary.

Alfonso Cuarón

What a great night for Cuarón as he got to go up and give three victory speeches (even if he should have gotten to give four). Each was heartfelt and impressive, especially his reference to foreign films that included Hollywood movies like The Godfather to remind people that Hollywood is not the complete center of the film world it always thinks it is. Cuarón continued the dominance of Mexican directors that have now won five or the last six Directing Oscars (now if only Guillermo del Toro was willing to make another prestige film next year, so we could see them go six for seven with Cuarón, del Toro, and Alejandro González Iñárritu ending up with two each), but Cuaron also moved himself into quite an exclusive territory, as he became the first person to win an Oscar in Directing, Cinematography, and Editing in a lifetime, which is ridiculous. Hell, few people have even won three Oscars, and even fewer have won three different categories of Oscars (Iñárritu, coincidently, is one other such person), let alone the combination that Cuarón pulled off. He has proven he is truly a legend of our time, and he still has plenty of time to see if he can get a Screenplay and/or Best Picture win to add to his collection.

Poor Glenn Close

I mean, as wonderful a moment as it was when Olivia Colman won for Best Actress, you had to feel for Glenn Close, who now has seven nominations with no wins. This one had to especially sting, because up until BAFTA this win seemed automatic, but unfortunately Close fell short again. She will almost certainly have another chance to win, but there is no guarantee she will actually win, so this is simply a reminder of how cruel the Academy Awards can be. Then again, maybe she would just prefer not to be shackled with winning during the Green Book Oscars.

Netflix still has some work to do

They kind of tried… Netflix let Roma play for three whole weeks in theatres before it debuted on the streaming platform, and well, if you were able to see Roma in theatres you were in for quite a treat, as so much of the film popped on the big screen in a way it never could on TV. Sure, the company four-walled the theatres that played the film in order to keep a wrap on how well the film was doing, even if it wasn’t that hard to estimate Roma‘s box office numbers. (Normally, exhibitors rent prints and collect ticket sales, which they then report publicly; four-walling is when the distributor rents the theater directly and pockets ticket sales themselves, which doesn’t require reporting how much money the film is making. – Ed) Overall there was an effort by Netflix to meet everyone somewhat closer to halfway. Unfortunately, it was not enough, as the bitterness the Academy has for Netflix was just too much for Roma to overcome. It is likely that a part of Cuarón’s Best Director win was an apology for punishing his movie for being on Netflix, which is kind of sad. There are just certain people that will never be okay with treating Netflix films like movies in the theatres as opposed to films most people watch on their phones (or if you really want to be the worst, a 3DS or smart fridge).

So what is next for Netflix? Possibly playing closer to the Academy’s rules if the company really wants the top prize at the Oscars. That is why its next major Oscar contender, Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, is likely going to get a more traditional Oscar release in as many theatres as possible. Whether that will be enough to overcome the bias against the company remains to be seen, but if nothing else, Netflix is going to absolutely put its best foot forward, and that could spell trouble for everyone else, as Netflix is determined to climb this mountain no matter how much money it costs.

Disney’s domination is delayed for another year

It is very possible that one thing that ultimately halted Black Panther‘s chance of winning Best Picture is that, well, it is likely hard for people to reward a Disney film past a certain point when the company is winning at pretty much everything else in life. After the Fox merger finally goes through, Disney is going to own roughly 40% of the market share, and in general, dominates most avenues of the pop culture news cycle. Add in that this merger is costing anywhere from 4,000 to 10,000 people their jobs (isn’t it great how our country’s antitrust laws are so damn useless?), and even with generous severance packages supposedly coming, this is a disaster for workers. It’s not like Hollywood is a brutal industry that has nowhere near enough jobs as is… oh wait, that is exactly what Hollywood is like. So yeah, it would not be surprising if a lot of people are resistant to giving Disney anything until absolutely necessary (basically, after Disney buys the rest of the industry). Still, now that a superhero film has finally broken through, it feels like we could be seeing more in the near future, considering we are going to get like five or six of them a year until we all die.

Best Song may have a problem

Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper gave an absolutely marvelous performance of “Shallow”, as one would expect (and lit the internet on fire with the sexual tension the two displayed), but the rest of the performances were, ummm, not so good. First, Kendrick Lamar couldn’t make it to the show, so the performance for “All the Stars” was canceled. Then the other three best song performances weren’t great. Jennifer Hudson had pitch problems during “I’ll Fight”, Bette Midler’s performances of “The Place Where Lost Things Go“ was overshadowed by Keegan-Michael Key’s intro to her performance, and the less said about Gillian Welch and David Rawlings’ performance of “When A Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings”, the better. It was noble of Lady Gaga to use her clout to make sure every Best Song winner got to perform, and I am generally in favor of that, but maybe it is time we at least consider going to a medley of all the songs to save time and still honor each song equally. Of course, that would mean we wouldn’t get a performance like “Shallow”, so maybe this is just something we all have to live with, because it is far more insulting to treat some Best Song nominees better than others (even if some obviously are more important than others).

Rami Malek’s Bowtie

Rami Malek had a great night, other than a somewhat dangerous fall off the Oscar stage, but you know what might have had a better night? His bowtie, which became the talk of Twitter, as everyone wanted to straighten it but it simply refused to stay in place. I salute you, bowtie! You change for no one. Not even Lady Gaga.

That’s it for this year’s Oscar season. It was a wild season that ended in bitter disappointment, and now I am retreating into the Kraken in hopes that time will heal these wounds. If not, then maybe the time leeches will take all the bad memories away. Regardless, I am out.

-David