There are few events throughout the year that take over social media the way the Oscars do. For better or worse, the memes align and the snarky comments fill our feeds. Last night’s telecast, hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, was no exception. The show met the Oscars status quo with predictable winners, standard acceptance speeches and an incredibly lengthy show. Here is what we took away from “Hollywood’s biggest night.”
1. No Surprising Winners. After watching the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild Awards and half dozen other award shows recognizing the 2013 crop of films, obvious trends occur. Sure, it has happened that someone comes out of left field to win an Oscar. But when someone’s trophy case is filled in January and February and the audience has their acceptance speech memorized, it’s likely that they’re going to win with the Academy also. That was confirmed with Matthew McConaughey winning for Lead Actor, Jared Leto getting Supporting Actor and Cate Blanchett for Lead Actress. The one slight question mark between Jennifer Lawrence and Lupita Nyong’o fell the way it’s been leaning for a while, with Nyong’o. The two favorites in the film categories were also predictable. Alfonso Cuaron won Best Director for Gravity and 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture.
2. Safe, but Still Funny. Seth McFarlane had the execs sweating bullets leading up to last year’s show, so the safer bet, Ellen DeGeneres, was given the nod to host this year. She didn’t do anything too crazy and wasn’t terribly mean to anybody, except Liza Minnelli. She was still quite funny though and will be remembered for two moments in particular. After joking about ordering pizza, she followed through by passing out slices to Brad Pitt, Martin Scorsese, Jared Leto and the rest of the star studded audience. It made them all look very human, which doesn’t usually happen at the tuxedo and limo filled Oscars. Ellen also attempted to stage a “selfie” with Meryl Streep, which quickly evolved into a more star studded photo. Channing Tatum, Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt (he’s everywhere!) and a number of others jumped in. The result was the most retweeted image ever on Twitter. Sorry Barack Obama’s reelection tweet, you’ve got nothing on a picture that has Jennifer Lawrence and Angelina Jolie in it. Both these stunts started awkwardly, so it’s a credit to Ellen for making them work.
If only Bradley's arm was longer. Best photo ever. #oscars pic.twitter.com/C9U5NOtGap
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) March 3, 20143. Montages? After a low ratings year a few years back, the Academy made an attempt to appease more common moviegoers not interested in the indie fare that earns all the trophies. So themed video montages play a few times throughout the show with clips from popular franchises. This year’s “hero” theme played out like a half-executed prom theme that shows up nowhere except the invitations. The segments were well done, and it was fun seeing Harry Potter side by side with Iron Man and Indiana Jones, but they are absolutely unnecessary space fillers in a show that already runs way too long. This reminds me…
4. The Marathon of Awards Shows. Now I am quite a big fan of The Oscars. I look forward to the show and as a film blogger; I do my fair share of research. But I am not delusional. This show is too long. The red carpet ran for about two and a half hours. Then the show itself was three and a half hours. A person with a casual interest wasn’t making it through that. I don’t think there’s a ton in the show that could be cut, but those of us off the west coast have a late night on Oscar Sunday. Even moving it one hour earlier would make it more bearable.
5. It’s the Oscars! Sure, it isn’t the most accessible award show out there, and the movies represented aren’t that accessible either, but there is only one Academy Awards. An incredibly small sampling of actors, producers and others in the industry earned the highest honor someone involved in the silver screen could receive last night. Are there more important things in life than a golden statue voted on by a bunch of rich people living in the Hollywood sun? Absolutely, but it sure is fun watching people’s dreams come true and rooting for your favorite movies to win. So I’ll keep watching even if my favorite movies are only represented in out of context montages and dream casting presenter pairings. (Can someone make that Emma Watson- Joseph Gordon-Levitt movie happen please?
Let us know what you thought about the big show.
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