364 Days To Oscar: Wrapping Up

Too much overcompensation on the black issue… reasonably interesting awards giving… not too much cheesy stuff… a few production errors… but an absolutely solid piece of TV award show producing that bodes well for the future.

That’s the short form. Now, a bit more detail.

Great opening montage. Really beautiful piece of cutting. Again, a bit heavy on the black actors (and Star Wars specifically) for no real reason aside to make the point. Sometimes, less is more… almost always, actually. The issue is equality, not stick it in your face.

Chris Rock’s opening monologue was, except for a closing joke, only about the race issue. Too much. It didn’t serve the issue well as it crossed the line between clever jokes and laying on the single note. Rock is a pro and he delivered good material. But he could easily have cut the material in half and done some material about the movies that were nominated and the broader issues of the industry.

My problem is that The Academy leadership lives so deeply in the bubble of its own fear and embarrassment that it forgets that there is a purpose of the Oscars other than as a mea culpa.

In the first hour, it was as though The Academy gave a directive that required something to show how sorry The Academy is for voting the way they voted this year every single segment. Later in the show, too. And some of the packages were quite good. Others not. But there was also the very real misstep that the showrunners were so focused on The Black Issue that it mostly forgot women and other people of color, perfectly happy to make Asians and Jews, for instance, the butt of jokes. Not cool.

That said, this was not a disqualifier. Not at all.

This was a well-produced TV show. And that is the most important thing. Take away a few mistakes and the repetition of “we’re not worthy” and you have a show that was well-paced, good looking, and absolutely repeatable for years to come.

Though some of the efforts were less than completely effective, the attempt to explain the production backstory behind each category was smart. It can get better. But it was a very good start.

I was glad to see the producers bring back the use of nominees as award givers. I thought getting nominees together in the side box, close to the stage, before their categories, was smart.

Suge Knight joke, no. Black History Month gag, no. Girl Scout Cookies gag, no. Minions, no. (You can do the Star Wars characters OR Woody & Buzz OR The Minions… not all three… certainly not all three back-to-back-to-back.)

If the Oscars is going to give the major studios presenter slots for upcoming movies, for gosh sakes, tell us what the coming movies are… I’d even say throw up 10-second clips so, for instance, when Charlize and Emily walk out, we’ve seen them in their action guises and the audience can enjoy the thought. I wouldn’t have minded seeing Black Panther and Captain America interact for a few seconds. It’s weird to have the pairings and those silly titles under each person without explaining why they are really there.

Uh… the scroll doesn’t work. Distracting. And the titles tagging each presenter’s history… no good either. Great if you are watching a second or third time… but almost no one ever will.

But the show moved along pretty well. The musical numbers were fine, though there was no reason for three instead of five and they didn’t have to do the entire songs. (Sam Smith’s production was lame, at best. But fixable.)

I have long said that The Oscars need to be treated like a TV show first in order to build an audience that tunes in consistently. I feel like this was, aside from the race thing, 85% of the way to being the kind of show that builds the loyal audience and can then build on that audience. Big congratulations to Reggie Hudlin and David Hill. They did it right… or at least are on the right track.

As for the winners and losers… great… whatever.

Whether I am one of the few to have a handle on the major upsets, as I was this year, or not, the guessing game is not The Thing. It is about the movies. It is about honoring film. It is about loving film. There were winners about whom I was thrilled, a few a little disappointed, mostly just fine. But who cares what I feel? It’s really beside the point.

It was a big deal for both Open Road and A24 to win their first Oscars. They are true indies that focus on the kinds of movies that are not being made as much by the major studios.

It was a good Oscar year. Very good movies. No easy frontrunner, for the right reasons or the wrong. So nothing to complain about. Nothing about the season to celebrate.

And now it is time for The Academy to put on its big gender-neutral panties and do what it needs to do. Dump the Exclusionary Rule, which is not a strong basis for increasing inclusion, except statistically. Rebuilt the relationship between leadership and the many, many really pissed off members who feel shat upon by leadership. (They feel that way because the membership was not appropriately considered while Cheryl Boone Isaacs and Dawn Hudson did magazine interviews and spouted slogans to make themselves look like they were serious about taking action.)

This should be the launch of a better future for The Academy. Inclusion is important. Take the step. But the effort should be transparent, so there will never be a shocking conversation on nomination day afternoon again. The Academy should put out all the stats that are relevant, not wait for media to guess and hype the numbers (which are not completely accurate).

And more than anything, take control back of the machinery around the Oscar show. Emphasize community within the Academy. Build mentoring opportunities. All this would be good. There is a high road that is also a road that truly includes everyone who has earned serious consideration for membership in this organization…. white/black/brown/asian, male/female, young (not too young, as a rule)/old.

May next year be the best in Academy history.

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