In a series called Mondo Bullshittio, let’s talk about some of the most glaring hypocrisies and faux pas in pop culture… and all that it affects.
In the endless bid to “shake things up,” as The Academy tries to do every year, Steven Soderbergh, who randomly stepped in to co-produce the show at the last minute, seemed to think what would help with that was monkeying with a time-honored tradition. But those who have seen Mystic Pizza know that it’s just as Leona (Conchata Ferrell) said: “You don’t monkey with tradition” (that much was certainly true in terms of continuing to let white patriarchy symbolically win via giving Anthony Hopkins the Best Actor award).
Soderbergh patently disagreed as he made several “tweaks” that noticeably caused (or exacerbated) a general strangeness to the entire affair. Among those palpable changes were use of multiple locations, a less “glamorous” venue (the actually rather glamorous Union Station in Downtown LA), nominating films that didn’t have a theatrical run (because, obviously, they couldn’t amid a pandemic), having no host, the melding of the Sound Mixing and Sound Editing categories into one and, of course, moving the Best Picture announcement from the last in the show to the one just before Best Actress and Best Actor nominees. All these little “nips and tucks” might have eked by were it not for this last one causing a complete tonal shift that landed with a major thud.
There have been some illustrious moments in Best Picture history, to be sure. The most recent one being the mix-up announcement between Moonlight and La La Land at the 2017 Academy Awards. At first, presenters Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty announced La La Land—which had already been the “darling” of the night—had won. The cast and crew came up to start making their acceptance speech when it was then kiboshed with the pronouncement that Moonlight had actually won, and there had been some kind of mix-up with the envelopes. At that point, however, The Academy might have saved more face by simply pretending La La Land really was the winner. It would have been less insulting and embarrassing for all involved.
In any event, the point is that Best Picture is, in fact, the best category to conclude with, regardless of whether things “get weird” or not. It puts the appropriate dramatic cap on everything. It is the only logical conclusion point to an awards show. To tamper with a tradition that’s actually viable, alas, seems to be the only types of traditions patriarchal institutions will experiment with eradicating. But it did not pay off here at all, as it left a bitter taste in many people’s mouths anticipating Chadwick Boseman to be a shoo-in for the win for his role in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
On the plus side for the broadcast’s frequently cringeworthy moments (Glenn Close attempting “Da Butt” definitely being among them), it was expectedly met with the lowest ratings it has ever seen, with viewership falling to the under ten million mark for the first time. Considering the recent report that TV and movie-watching is deemed a decided millennial/boomer pastime (again, this is why millennials are nicknamed “echo boomers”), can it be such a surprise that any form of lingering respect for the medium has markedly digressed? And will likely all but die out as Gen Z takes over dominating control of what determines marketplace trends?
So no, that ain’t gonna be movies as we’ve come to know them. Which probably means a different kind of “Time’s Up” for the Academy Awards soon enough. But for the love of God or whoever, in the meantime, save Best Picture for last.
