Oscar, in happier times

Welcome to Oscar Sunday!

Today is practically a holiday for me.  As someone who loves movies and who also loves award shows, the Oscar Ceremony is an important annual event.  I really don’t feel like the previous year is over until the Oscars have been handed out.  For me, I won’t truly be able to move on from 2023 and really plunge into 2024 until the award for Best Picture is handed out.

It’s true that the Oscars are not what they once were.  There have been some truly abysmal recent Oscar ceremonies and the show’s declining ratings are a testament to the fact that the Oscars are not quite the cultural phenomena that they once were.  There’s less glamour in Hollywood and the annual ceremony sometimes seems to alternate between trying too hard or not trying hard enough to keep up with the times.  The last few ceremonies have mostly been memorable for how the people screwed up, like when La La Land was declared Best Picture or Steven Soderbergh tried to turn the ceremony into a terrible Ocean’s sequel.  People may not remember all of the winners but they will always remember Will Smith self-destructing while the cameras rolled.

And I don’t really have high hopes for this ceremony.  Yes, the ratings should see an improvement.  The mix of Barbie and Oppenheimer will provide the show with a boost.  But host Jimmy Kimmel has always been hit or miss and I don’t think anyone is looking forward to the inevitable lecturing that seems to go with shows like this.  I hope we’ll be spared any of the “Celebrities Are Just Like Us” stuff that was so popular just a few years ago.  I don’t want to see Hollywood celebrities invading a movie theater.  I don’t want the host forcing people to buy cookies from his children.  Personally, I think it’s hilarious that the Oscar selfie had to be memory-holed because Kevin Spacey managed to sneak into the background.  (And, of course, Ellen is no longer quite the beloved figure she used to be.)

But, for all the bad things, there’s also the good moments that make it worth it.  Last year, the Daniels were a bit insufferable but Ke Huy Quan gave a beautiful acceptance speech.  The year before that, Will Smith acted like an ass but CODA‘s victory proved that there was a place for a small, heartfelt film.  Steven Soderbergh’s Oscars were a mess but it was a fascinating mess, a true example of what happens when a major talent takes a silly assignment too seriously.  The Oscars, in the end, are meant to be fun.  We cheer when our favorites win and we get mad when they lose.  We watch for the good acceptance speeches but we also watch for the regrettable ones.  The Oscars and Oscar Sunday are still a part of our pop culture and they’re something that I look forward to every year.

And, of course, we’ll be celebrating Oscar Sunday all day here at the Shattered Lens!  So, fasten your seat belts.  It might be a bumpy ride but the destination will be worth it.