Jennifer Allen
By Jennifer Allen
“For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities. This is proof that dreams dream big and dreams do come true. And ladies, don’t let anyone ever tell you you are ever past your prime. Never give up.” ~ Michelle Yeoh, 95th Academy Awards
Another awards season has come and gone…
We laughed. We cried. We cheered as certain names were announced and those selfsame people advanced upon a brightly lit stage and gifted the world with jubilant speeches for their wins.
At the end of this congratulatory tunnel was the Oscars; an awards ceremony to which Hollywood has befuddled us all with some of the most surprising and controversial choices over its many decades of existence. I’m still not over How Green is My Valley, Shakespeare in Love, Crash, Driving Miss Daisy, and Green Book winning Best Picture Oscars over clearly superior films in their respective categories, by the way.
In a sort of “awards ennui”, my habit of watching the Golden Globes and the SAG awards has overshadowed other ceremonies such as the Oscars, BAFTAs and so on. My reasoning ranges from the Academy’s aforementioned questionable decisions for winners, to finding parts of some ceremonies to be rather lackluster. Ironically, this choice delayed my learning about “the slap” during the 2022 Oscars until it was all over the news the next morning.
Amusingly, that’s not even the most controversial thing ever experienced at an awards ceremony. Reading the wrong winner has happened often enough. Mispronouncing fellow performers’ names. “Wardrobe malfunctions.” Kanye being Kanye. Mistakes and scandals are ripe for mockery, and we as the common audience will devour it all like candy.
Heck Marlon Brando’s stunt rejecting his Oscar in 1973 for The Godfather by sending an actress in Indigenous garb in his place is rather tame by today’s standards. Sacheen Littlefeather (sadly) was boycotted after the incident and not pardoned by the Academy until August 2022, three months before her death.
Something inside me prodded my psyche to watch at least certain portions of the Oscars this year. I was hopeful that this year would be different. This year… the Academy would (hopefully) ignore most of the “Oscar bait” films which sprinkle into our cinemas the week after Christmas so they can just hit the deadline before awards season. They would sit back and acknowledge cinema as a true art form once again. Imagine my delight when an independent film focusing on family relationships through the lens of an everything bagel, talking rocks, and hot dog fingers walked away with seven awards including Best Picture.
And oh yeah… RRR’s “Naatu Naatu” won Best Song, which was not surprising in the slightest. That music is so catchy it had moviegoers dancing to it in the theatres. The other nominees didn’t stand a chance.
But for my part, I was most elated by the four best actor winners this year.
A few facts about these particular choices:
1) All four were over 50 years old
2) All were first time winners
3) All received standing ovations when their names were announced
4) Their roles were in movies produced by A24 studios
5) This was the first time an East Asian performer, let alone two, won an Oscar
6) Two had just recently returned to acting after nearly giving up
To their credit, each had tough competition in their corresponding categories. Any of one their fellow nominees could easily have won as all the performances were stellar this past year. If other names had been announced instead, I would have been completely fine with it.
Yet like the Grinch, my heart swelled two sizes larger watching Hallie Berry (the first woman of color to win a Best Actress Oscar) reach over and hug Michelle Yeoh for her win. I nearly burst when Ariana DeBose (a queer person of color) announced Ke Huy Quan’s name with such emotion for his win.
I could barely watch through my tears as Brendan Fraser hastily breathed out his acceptance speech and showed us all the humble and loving person he is. Jamie Lee Curtis (already descended from Hollywood royalty) screaming with glee at 63 years old, that “We just won an Oscar!” had me grinning from ear to ear.
So what’s the ultimate takeaway from all this? I think that after two years of near solitude to protect our health, we as patrons have altered our mindset about what entertains us. Bombastic comic book and sci-fi movies have lost some of their luster. Remakes and reboots of various childhood sentimentalities are growing stale.
2022 became the year when the mid-budget art film made its official comeback… and we’re now all but salivating for more. Let’s hope that for the remainder of 2023, entertainment corporations will realize that the frontier of movie making is constantly in flux and we as consumers of their product… are ready for more intelligent, creative, and poignant storytelling.
Jennifer Allen works at Saathee and is also a Blogger, Photographer, Graphic Artist, Gamer, Martial Arts Practitioner, and an all around Pop Culture Geek. You can reach her at saathee@saathee.com
