The Academy Awards, more commonly known as the Oscars,are the annual awards show that celebrates the previous year of film. The Oscars have been around for 96 years, and are the most prestigious award someone in the entertainment business can receive. These awards vary from best actor and actress to best editing to best directing. Nearly every aspect of film gets recognition at the Oscars, and the best of the best walk home with the golden statue.
In years past, this awards show has been criticized by viewers for getting award winners wrong, snubbing people who were expected to be nominated and putting on a less-than-stellar show for the audience. The last two years, this narrative seems to have started moving in the other direction, with fans expressing approval and enjoyment of the last two years’ shows, especially this year. This year’s viewership hit a 4-year high and was up from 18 million last year to 19 million. Much of the conversation online the next day was positive and about highlights from the show, which has been in short supply the last few years
One of the biggest stories going into the Oscars was Robert Downey Jr., and if he would get his Oscar moment after so many years and complete his comeback story. In the early 2000s, after a promising start to a career Robert was faced with drug addiction and multiple drug-related arrests. He finally got sober after realizing where his life was at, and a few short years later he was cast as Iron Man in the Marvel movies According to dream life recovery “His commitment to recovering from addiction and regenerating his acting career led him to his greatest success yet: starring as Tony Stark in Marvel Studios Iron Man and The Avengers film franchise”. He was praised around the world for his performance as Tony Stark and became a household name; by the time he was done with Marvel he had already come back and became one of the most popular actors of all time, but had not been recognised by the Academy yet. Robert Downey Jr. was loved by fans across the globe, but because Marvel movies are rarely nominated for Oscars, he had not gotten his moment to shine on the awards stage yet. That was until he was cast in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and gave one of the best acting performances that year. This performance gave him his Oscar nomination, and in the weeks leading up to the Oscars the fans were behind him the entire time. He won Best Supporting Actor at the Golden Globes earlier in the award season; he now just needed to bring the Oscar home. That day came and he walked away with the Best Supporting Actor win and completed what fans are calling the greatest acting comeback of all time. Along with RDJ, the entire production of Oppenheimer had something to celebrate at the Oscars. The film took home Best Supporting Actor, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Picture sweeping the Oscars awards.
Another hot topic from the Oscars is the performance and showmanship side of Oppenheimer’s rival film Barbie being celebrated. Though many fans of the film were disappointed that director Greta Girwig and star Margot Robbie had not been nominated for anything, there was still something to celebrate. Barbie had not been nominated for as many awards as Oppenheimer, but they made their mark with stellar performances. Billie Eilish not only performed her original song for the film titled “What Was I Made For,” but she also took home the award for Best Original Song, which is her second Oscar win and made history as the youngest person to take home two oscars. Barbie also had another musical performance that night and it was one of the songs Billie Eilish was up against. Ryan Gosling gave a stunning performance of “I’m Just Ken,” and it was a huge hit from the audiences in the seats and at home. Gosling also gave the audience a chance to be involved in some of the performances, so while Barbie did not win as many awards as Oppenheimer, they won in the performance aspect.
Lastly, one of the biggest and most controversial moments of the Oscars was Emma Stone winning best actress instead of Lily Gladstone. Emma Stone was the star of Poor Things and Lily Gladstone was the female star of Martin Scorsese’s film Killers of the Flower Moon. Many fans acknowledge the fact that Emma Stone gave an outstanding performance in Poor Things, but believed that Lily Gladstone gave a more powerful and meaningful one in Killers of the Flower Moon, which is why everybody was expecting her to win. After a little bit there seem to be some theories as to why Gladstone did not end up winning this award. One of the biggest theories is that she is native american and in the past the Oscars have been known to ignore performances from native american people. There have only been two Best Actress Nominees that were not white in Oscars history, which is shocking and disheartening. Many people think that she is being ignored because of that and campaigning for that to be changed in the future as it looks like the academy is ignoring these fantastic performances. One of the other theories was that Emma Stone was without a doubt the star of Poor Things, and nobody else in that film could compete. While Killers of the Flower Moon has basically two stars, one being Leonardo Dicaprio who some believe was the main star. Gladstone could have campaigned for Best Supporting Actress as actors can choose what they campaign for if their performance falls under multiple categories, which she probably would have won in a landslide, but she decided to stick with Best Actress. This may have hurt her chances since the Academy may not have felt like she was as big a part of her movie as Emma Stone was to hers. You could even see the shock on Emma Stone’s face when she won the award; fans assumed from her facial expressions that she fully expected Lily Gladstone to win as well. Emma Stone and Lily Gladstone had also become good friends since their nominations, so it is possible that she was rooting for Gladstone, but it could have been the shock of winning her second Best Actress Oscar in 10 years. While Lily Gladstone might have deserved it more in many fans’ eyes, nobody is denying the amazing performance Emma Stone put on.
The Oscars have had a troubled past of really poor shows and performances. To the point where many stopped watching and only looked at the winners the day after. Luckily, last year and this year have both been praised for being so much better than years prior. There are still many things to criticize but as of now the show is going in the right direction, and hopefully in the future the show will be one of the most highly anticipated of the year.
