By Anand Venkitachalam Los Angeles, March 28 (UNI) Following the heavily dwindling interest in the Oscars and the fears of repeating what can only be called a mammoth collapse of cataclysmic proportions for the Oscars last year, the Academy this time was certainly in for an unexpected win as the ratings are very likely to have gone up a lot higher than before, indicating a greatly renewed interest in the award ceremony which last year found few takers. Managing to avoid last year’s abysmal performance with first-time producer Will Packer at the helm, the Oscars was able to return to its home turf at L.A.’s Dolby Theatre and restore some measure of its former glitz and glamour, thanks to a significant drop in Covid numbers and yes of course, with some very memorable moments which are not going to be forgotten in a hurry any time soon. So whether scripted or not, sometimes a sock is all that is needed to bring things back on track.
The 94th Academy Awards also stands testimony to the fact that no matter the desperation of big studios and organizations to keep things running smoothly like a well oiled machine, the power of the live TV is beyond comprehension, full of its own strange twists and turns for better or the worse as proven by the efforts of ABC studios and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The desperation for making it more popular was more than evident — whether it be the piling speeches on top of pre-taped comedy bits that made for a frantic pace at times, certain cuts from the show which for some were an insult to the honorees and the Academy itself, and the clear eagerness to reach a wider audience through employing methods such as bringing on South Korean K-pop superstars BTS to talk about Disney movies, and announcing the results of a Twitter poll for the top five cheer-worthy movie moments of all time.
For weeks now, the network and Academy’s governing body had been weathering fierce critical attacks about their new choices of handling the award ceremony, such as pre-taping eight technical category wins in order to make more room for seemingly, some more comedic bits from three hosts and reducing the overall length, which still ended up exceeding the time by more than half an hour. Then a new “Fan Favorite” category of winners as awarded by a coordination of Academy and online polling on Twitter , and yes Chris Evans’ gave an introduction to an extended trailer for his upcoming movie “Lightyear,” a “Toy Story” spinoff. The night’s brightest moments belonged to the various winners like Ariana DeBose (Supporting Actress, “West Side Story”) and Troy Kotsur (Supporting Actor, “CODA”), whose moving speeches highlighted their singular journeys to the big screens of Hollywood and sounded the clarion calls for the LA film industry to open its doors to people existing outside its norms. Despite the show’s constant insistence that it’s “where movie lovers unite”, nothing about its production could sell that sentiment half as powerfully as its weeping winners, who were more grateful than anything in the world to have been there and won.
More than any other televised Oscars ceremony in recent memory, this one was absolutely insistent on efficiency. Occasionally, if it did manage to do just that, still, in the process the telecast cut corners, which seriously angered and upset several technical branches of the Academy, and the audience who saw this move as a mockery of the very films it was honouring. So yes, the Oscars this year certainly managed to grab a lot more attention with its various antics, queer choices and unexpected moments. Maybe the 94th Academy Awards are also memorable, but were they the good kind of memorable or one where people look back on it only for the sake of a giant laugh? That is a question that will be answered in time, but for that one sock by Will Smith and now for the better or worse, even if controversial, the Oscars of this year were in their own way, a strange sort of success.
with UNI Inputs
