The Oscars, as everyone knows, are a massively important event. Featuring the most celebrated actors, actresses, directors, and the like from all over the world, the Oscars are hotly anticipated for the announcement of the winners in myriad categories. The glitz and the extravagant flamboyance surrounding the entire event begin right from the red carpet to the proclamation of the movie which has won the Best Picture. With most of the people inside the swanky Dolby Theatre seemingly having attained a demigod status, it is easy to see why the Oscars are such a dominant force in terms of award ceremonies.
Kimmel’s opening monologue
After Justin Timberlake had kickstarted the ceremony with his catchy ‘Can’t stop the feeling’, it was time for seasoned talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel to take over. Bringing his trademark sarcastic jibes to the stage, Kimmel poked fun at President Trump, as well as at the hypocritical nature of Hollywood which discriminates mainly on the basis of weight and age. Taunting Matt Damon (their fake rivalry and hatred for each other ostensibly continues) Kimmel was especially funny and original while making fun of the legendary Meryl Streep for being “highly overrated”-a thinly veiled jibe at Prez Trump who’d previously tweeted the same. It was a hilarious start to the Oscars with many in the crowd laughing openly whilst enjoying themselves.
Racial diversity for the win
With the #OscarsSoWhite controversy of last year having people complaining on social media about the lack of diversity at the event, and with America a seemingly divided nation with the election of Trump, it was to be seen whether things would be different this year. And fortunately, they were. In fact, the 2017 Oscars made history for having the most number of black winners ever. The impressive Mahershala Ali won Best Supporting Actor for Moonlight (becoming the first Muslim to win the award), the charismatic Viola Davis won Best Supporting Actress for Fences, Ezra Edelman shared the Best Documentary Oscar with Caroline Waterlow for the intense O.J.:Made in America, while Barry Jenkins and Tarell Alvin McCraney won Best Screenplay for the film Moonlight. Apart from these, talented Iranian director Asghar Farhadi became the first person from his nation to win Best Foreign Feature for the second time.
Candy and the end of a losing streak
Kimmel went all out in pampering the already pampered celebrities by having candy rain down from the ceiling, quite literally! Twizzlers, Junior Mints, and doughnuts were dropped onto the unsuspecting audience via parachutes in what was an amusing moment for everyone in the auditorium, and for those watching at home. He also lifted adorable Sunny Pawar, the braveheart from ‘Lion’, in an attempt to recreate the famous Lion King pose. Kevin O’Connell showed the importance of patience and dedication when he won Best Sound Mixing (Hacksaw Ridge) on his 21st nomination, a mind whopping 34 years after his first nomination for ‘Terms of Endearment’! Way to go!
La La Land wins big
Widely acclaimed musical La La Land was nominated in a record-equalling 14 categories and although it won less than half, nevertheless it still managed to grab 6 Oscars. As was expected, Emma Stone won Best Actress, while Damien Chazelle became the youngest director in Oscar history to win at the age of 32. The film’s other wins came in production design, cinematography, original score and original song, the last being the melancholic ‘City of Stars’ which describes the theme of the movie.
Also Read – La La Land : An Ode to the Fools who Dream
A blunder for the ages!
When it was time to announce the winner for Best Picture, which is the most coveted Oscar for the entire cast and crew involved with a film, presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway announced La La Land as the winner when it was, in fact, Moonlight. In what was a tense and highly cringeworthy moment, and surely one that will be remembered for ages to come, producer Jordan Horowitz stopped mid-speech and claimed that Moonlight had won. When all pandemonium and confusion broke loose, it was realised that the wrong envelope had been given to the presenters resulting in this bizarrely unfortunate mishap. This led to both members of the two movies being onstage while the cast of Moonlight was delivering their thank-you speeches. An uncomfortable and unforgettable moment indeed!
So this was our review for the 2017 Oscars. Do comment below for your thoughts and opinions!