Some Oscar thoughts
First, for those who lack basic access to the media, and who frighteningly rely on this site for news of the world, here are last night's Oscar winners.
My overall review: eh. Host Jon Stewart got in a few decent jabs (at 80 years old, the Oscar is the de facto Republican front-runner for the nomination), there were a couple of mild surprises (the woman from La Vie en Rose beating Julie Christie for Best Actress), and a couple of touching moments (Jon Stewart bringing the woman half of the Best Song team back out after the commercial to make up for her having been cut off prematurely). But there was a lot of self-indulgent wankery (is there any other kind?), so I was happy for the ongoing discussion on Twitter to keep me company.
Anyway, throughout the show I kept a few quasi-random notes to share with you.
- I won't pretend to fully understand the categories like art direction, make-up, costume design, and the other technical awards. Nonetheless, I would be curious to hear actual practitioners of the form explain why some of these winners deserved the honor. I can only appreciate the superficial aspects, but of course there is a lot of skill and nuance I miss.
- There is a persistent myth that over a billion people watch the Oscar telecast. It simply isn't true.
- Diablo Cody is an attractive woman with E! Hollywood Story written all over her. Nonetheless, she won an Academy Award for original screenplay. Does every sound bite or news article need to lead with her past as an exotic dancer?
- The "In Memoriam" clip is always poignant, but more so this year with the inclusion of Heath Ledger. (I correctly predicted that his would be the final name shown in the segment.) However, the criteria for inclusion is very murky. Still, it seems odd that Roy Scheider would be omitted, as well as Brad Renfro. Did they have the poor timing to die after editing was complete on the segment?
I'll sort out the winner of our contest soon, but since there were only three entries (one coming right at the start of the awards), I suppose it doesn't much matter.
4 Comments:
I know Roy Scheider died after the cutoff date. He'll be on the roll next year.
Brad Renfro is a tougher call. I read some speculation that he may not have been an academy member for some reason, but don't know if that's true or not.
Upon further research:
"'It was really an editing decision because we can’t fit everyone in,' a rep for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences tells Usmagazine.com. "There was no specific reason.'"
The cutoff to be in the reel is January 31, and Heath Ledger’s passing on January 22 guaranteed him a spot in line, ...(omit)... and it was only with the passing of time that I and others began to realize that Brad Renfro, who died on January 15, hadn’t been in the package. Was his death too gruesome? Unlikely; Hollywood has never shied away from mourning the passing of its own, no matter the cause. Was his career too old? Again, unlikely; many of the older people featured in the tribute had stopped working long before their deaths, plus Renfro had a role in the upcoming The Informers. For some reason, Renfro was simply overlooked, and though the Academy will probably chalk it up to an oversight and deny whatever intern collated the dead list whatever USC film credit they were earning, it’s hard not to see Renfro’s exclusion as weirdly indicative of the Academy’s whole hang-up with perception. Ledger is just as dead as Renfro, but he’s the kind of dead the Academy wants to hold up to the light. Renfro was a junkie and troubled and dangerous, but Ledger — he’s just classy. Via Pajiba
I'm glad that Diablo Cody was recognized. For all its quirkiness and pop culture facade, Juno is really well-written and deals with its sensitive subject matter in a touching and humorous manner.
I was equally surprised about the Brad Renfro omit.
And I did hear on MSNBC that this was the least watched Oscar telecast of the last decade (I think they said decade; I could be wrong about that).
Interesting observations. Thank you for sharing.
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