the 2019 oscars
Well, awards season has finally come to a close. Many of you might be glad about this because it means no more annoying social media posts from me. It also means no more blog posts about awards shows for a while, meaning I'll actually have to think creatively about what to post. Can't promise that will go over well.
As you can imagine, I have MANY a thought about how this show went down, so let's just get into it. I was trying to do a gentle lead-in but I'm itching to talk shit, so lets fucking go.
DISCLAIMER: I'm not going to go over every single award that was presented throughout the night, only the ones that I actually have expertise on.
Starting from the top, I have decided that watching red carpet shows really just ruins the entire night for me. Nobody needs to see Ryan Seacrest on that much cocaine before the show even actually starts. Someone please get him off the carpet. I'm starting to get worried.
I honestly wasn't sure what to expect since this is the first Oscars I've ever seen sans host. The show started with Queen + Adam Lambert performing a couple songs. It was alright. I honestly didn't think much of it, but I also have no complaints. Fear not, there are plenty of those to come.
Nothing could be better than Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and Maya Rudolph onstage at an awards show. I am actually so glad they were the ones who got roped into presenting the first award because they also did an opening monologue-esque lead-in to presenting the award for Best Supporting Actress. Nobody was surprised when it was Regina King's name that was called. She has been leading the charge throughout the awards season circuit. Despite nobody being surprised, I can't imagine anyone was even a little bit upset, either. Regina King has been churning out incredible performances for years, my personal favorite being her role in A Cinderella Story, which is why I was so shocked to find out that this was her first win AND her first nomination. Crazy. She looked stunning and gave a genuine and heartfelt speech. Great way to start the night. My only qualm, and of course I have one, is the fact that clearly the Academy thinks that awarding Regina King means that the rest of the movie can just go unnoticed. If Beale Street Could Talk was undoubtably top five movies of 2018 for me. I saw it on Christmas Day with my dad and literally could not stop crying. My dad had to physically enfold me in his arms to calm me down. I'm an emo bitch for sure, but movies rarely make me cry. The lack of nominations for cinematography, director and best picture are literally unforgivable. Overlooking all the other performances in the movie including Kiki Layne, Stephan James and Colman Domingo is a gross injustice. I'm still angry. The intense and devastating subject matter was offset by literally the most beautiful imagery I've ever seen. The color mood ALONE deserved an Oscar. That's something only Barry Jenkins could do. Not to jump the gun, because we still have a long way to go in this post, but if the Academy wanted to champion a movie about race relations, why was it not this one? This movie is based on the book by the BLACK author, James Baldwin. It was written and directed by the BLACK Barry Jenkins. It stars an almost entirely BLACK cast. It's a story about black people made by black people. Spoiler alert: the movie that won Best Picture is also about race relations, but was made entirely by white people. More on that later.
The next awards were for Best Documentary Feature, Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling. Free Solo, a movie I haven't seen, won for documentary and I very much enjoyed that speech. Makeup & Hairstyling went to Vice, which I also haven't seen, but after seeing brief clips of Christian Bale as Dick Cheney, it seemed well deserved.
Achievement in Costume Design and Achievement in Production Design were both awarded to women who worked on Black Panther. I was ecstatic. It is a total triumph that both of the recipients are women of color. Iconic. These were two of several awards the Academy had originally said were going to be presented during the commercial break until literally everyone told them to fuck off. I'm not sure if Ruth Carter and Hannah Bleacher just decided to go extra hard because they felt like they had to prove they deserved to be on the actual telecast, but they fucking killed it. Two of the best speeches of night, no question. These two early wins for Black Panther made me convince myself that it actually might win for best picture. My bad.
Alfonso Cuarón received the award for Achievement in Cinematography for Roma. Hell yes!!!!!!!! The opening credits of this movie alone could have received this award. For those of you who haven't seen it, the movie is shot completely in black and white. I have never seen such beautiful depictions of water, it was literally mesmerizing. Every single shot could have been a painting. Yet another big early win that had me convinced it was either Roma or Black Panther taking home the nights biggest prize. The movie is on Netflix. Please watch it.
The categories Achievement in Sound Editing and Sound Mixing were both awarded to Bohemian Rhapsody. Now, I'm not enough of a technical snob to really understand the importance of either of these categories, but if you want to find out more about what mixing and editing is, I found this article particularly helpful. It is worth noting that since I'm not well-versed on these topics, I didn't feel strongly about the fact that BoRhap won, but just about everyone else in Hollywood was. The entirety of the movie was focused on trying to make it seem like Rami Malek was singing when it was actually a lip dub of Freddie Mercury. Admittedly, I didn't notice anything wrong with the sound as I was watching it, but that's just me. Personally, I think Roma should have won since I found the sound story in that movie to be so incredibly lifelike it literally sounded like the noises were coming from my house--and that's just me watching it on a laptop! I can't imagine seeing it in a real theater. Alas, another upset. It's also worth noting that the long besmirched credited director of BoRhap, Bryan Singer, was not mentioned in this acceptance speech.
Roma, to literally nobody's surprise, received the award for Best Foreign Language Film. Not much to say here. It deserved this win ten fold.
Next up was the award for Achievement in Film Editing, which was given to Bohemian Rhapsody. Again, I'm not a tech wizard so I can't comment on whether the award was deserved or not, but here's what I do know. The editor of a movie and the director of a movie are literally intertwined during the film-making process. The fact that this acceptance speech offered ZERO mention of Bryan Singer is truly remarkable. I literally don't know how John Ottoman managed to just not mention the director. As Stephen Thompson of one of my favorite podcasts, Pop Culture Happy Hour put it, the award for best gymnastics goes to every person associated with Bohemian Rhapsody who managed to do back flips and cartwheels around Bryan Singer's name.
Mahershala Ali was awarded Best Supporting Actor, which surprised nobody. In his speech, Ali thanked Dr. Shirley, the man whom he is portraying in Green Book. Remember this—it will be relevant later on. I love Mahershala Ali, so I don't necessarily have it in me to say that I'm upset, but let's just say I'm pretending with all my might that he was actually awarded for his role in Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse instead. Fuck Green Book. That's not the last time I'll say it.
Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse won for Best Animated Feature, again, not surprising. I'm actually embarrassed to admit that I haven't seen this movie...I have no excuse. I've heard wonderful things, even some people saying that it deserved to be in the running for Best Picture. Are animated films allowed to be nominated for Best Picture? Remind me to check on that.
Best Animated Short went to Bao, which I have not seen because I didn't see Incredibles 2, which is the movie it was attached to.
Best Documentary: Short Subject was awarded to a Netflix movie, Period. End of Sentence. I have also not seen this movie, but listening to the film makers acceptance speech made me immediately interested. It's a movie about periods. And it won an Oscar. Yeet.
Achievement in Visual Effects went to First Man, it's only win of the night.
Best Live Action Short went to Skin, which I haven't seen, but I was told that every single movie in this category was extremely depressing and upsetting, so I think I'll politely pass.
It pains me to even say this. Green Book for some reason took home the award for Original Screenplay...with Roma and The Favourite in the same category. Am I in hell? I can't even begin to explain why this is so upsetting. Before I dive into that, may I just say that The Favourite is quite literally the most original screenplay I have ever come across. If you don't know what it's about, go see it. Now, the literal entire problem with Green Book is its screenplay. The story was incorrect! If you don't believe me, please refer to this article where the niece of Dr. Shirley himself says, "I think to consistently see our stories and our Black icons filtered through the lens of a racist white person like Tony Lip does nothing to advance the understanding of Black history and only serves to perpetuate white supremacy.” That's that on that.
The best moment of the night was seeing the iconic moment where Spike Lee finally got his Oscar for helping write BlacKkKlansman. I didn't know I needed to see a purple-suited Spike Lee leaping into Samuel L. Jacksons arms until then. Truly one of the best things I've ever seen. Lest we forget Spike Lee closing out his speech with "Let's do the right thing!" ARE YOU KIDDING. FUCKING ICONIC. BLACK EXCELLENCE.
The award for Original Score was presented to Black Panther. Yet another sign that (I thought) meant all signs point to Wakanda for Best Picture.
To exactly zero people's surprise, Lady Gaga took home an Oscar for the song “Shallow” from A Star Is Born, the film's only win of the night. I think everything that ever needs to be said about the song “Shallow” has already been said. All I'll add is that after witnessing the eye contact intercourse between Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, I had to get up and wash my hands. I felt dirty.
I was truly surprised when Rami Malek was awarded for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. Despite the glaring issues with the film and the fact that this prosthetic teeth were literally more distracting than his wardrobe, I thought this was well deserved. That being said, I still think Rami Malek's mannerisms are comparable to that of a meth addict. Maybe I'm just being a bitch. It is also worth noting that on the fourth opportunity of the night for someone from BoRhap to address the Singer controversy, Rami failed. Heinous.
My personal highlight of the night was seeing Olivia Colman win her overly-deserved Oscar for The Favourite. ICONIC. Have you ever seen a better/more British acceptance speech? No the fuck you haven't!!!!! I am truly obsessed with her. And honestly, Glenn Close, I'm not sorry. I'm sure you're a lovely lady, but I'm not sorry. It is truly heinous that I even have to say this, but this was the only award The Favourite took home. Academy, I will hold this against you for the rest of time.
Alfonso Cuarón won a third time for Achievement in Directing and honestly, he deserved it. I don't know how many different ways I can say it: Roma is everything. I love you, Alfonso. I am so sorry your beautiful achievement had to be followed by such an abhorrent event.
Now. Here we are. What you've all been waiting for. You probably haven't actually been waiting for this at all, but let me live. Green Book won Best Picture. I'm just gonna go ahead and launch into this rant. This is a movie based on a ““““““““““““““““““““““true””””””””””””””””””””””””””” story about a white man driving and bodyguard-ing a black piano player in the deep south during the Civil Rights era. Sounds fine, right? WRONG. This movie was made entirely by white people—one of which was the son of the white character, Tony Lip. This may seem perfectly harmless to some of you, which is fine. But here's why it is incredibly harmful. This movie is a superficial look into the reality of this time period. White people should NEVER be at the center of a film about this subject matter. The lesson of the movie is that the kindness of one white man in the deep south in the 1960s is a triumph. NEWS FLASH: THAT IS NOT A TRIUMPH. I will never find a story about a white person being nice to a black person compelling. Congratulations on doing the literal fucking bare minimum of being a good human being. Do you want a prize for NOT hating someone based on their literal skin color???? I will not reward people for not being racist. I literally am not impressed. Since when is it interesting to hear about how a racist white dude actually got to know a black dude rather than making racist assumptions about him and then decided to not be racist anymore. IT IS NOT INTERESTING. IT IS NOT NUANCED. STOP FUCKING MAKING MOVIES LIKE THIS. My permanent mood about this movie is Spike Lee literally jumping out of his seat and attempting to leave the Dolby Theater while the best picture acceptance speech was going on. I am including some tweets I found that encapsulate the injustice of this movie winning best picture if you want a more condensed reasoning. The comparisons between Green Book and Crash are painfully accurate. (Crash won for best picture in 2004 and about a year later everyone realized it was actually racist as hell and extremely problematic).
My dear friend Madeline feels strongly about this monstrosity of a best picture winner , so I have included her thoughts to further the “Fuck Green Book” movement:
Greetings and thank you to Miranda for allowing me a platform on which we can bring up something that is simply not being discussed.
In an age of Hollywood that is trying hard to diversify itself, it seems that the Academy and movie watchers everywhere are forgetting the essence of this push. The importance of a diverse representation in film is to get to the root of truth. Truth cannot be depicted in a world where movies and TV remain whitewashed, void of wide-ranging opinion, experience, and intersectionality. I was proud, and I am proud, of the work that popular culture has been doing to reinvent an industry that was based around telling the stories of white Americans. Just this year we have seen artists of all backgrounds recognized for their work and perseverance at bringing truth to our screens. That’s what art is about.
So my question is this: in a time where the root of truth has been put at the forefront of our minds and newspapers, why is everyone forgetting the Green Book is literally untrue. No, I have not seen Green Book. No, I have no plans to ever see it. First of all, I’m already actively uncomfortable by the aggressively “white savior” premise, but that’s a conversation for another time. The main concern to me is the lack of ever consulting Don Shirley’s family on the screenplay. While Mr. Vallelonga himself co-wrote the film, the Shirley’s were not even present at the Oscar ceremony. The Shirley’s have since come forward publicly to talk about how they feel the story was misrepresented. Not surprising, as the failure to invite anyone from his family to consult on the screenplay could lead nowhere but to a gross lack of reflexivity!
In conclusion, the films popularity makes me uncomfortable as it is profiting from the fact that it is a story of beating the odds of racism, yet never considers the perspective of the actual black family the story was about. Either way, I have no doubt Mahershala Ali absolutely killed the performance regardless of whether or not he was given a script that spoke the unbiased truth of what was certainly a prolific story beyond its one-sided depiction.
To conclude this mega post, I just want to highlight the fact that besides the thorn in the side of the whole show, I was very pleased. Almost every time I looked at the screen, I saw a person of color, a woman and even women of color accepting all kinds of awards.
Congratulations on getting to the end of this post.
For now, that's all OG wrote.
