The Best And The Worst Moments Of The Oscars, According To Critics
Last night's Academy Awards were largely a rote and boring affair, with all six major categories going to the nominees who were widely expected to win. At the same time, the Academy's annual tribute to the magic of the movies was forced for the first time to contend with its past enabling of abusers like Harvey Weinstein and acknowledge the Time's Up movement for gender equity in Hollywood. How did Oscar do? The reviews are mixed, and understandably so. Even as the ceremony paid lip service to ideas like intersectionality, it also allowed alleged abusers Gary Oldman and Kobe Bryant to go home with statues. Here are five critics' takes on the best and the worst parts of the 90th Academy Awards.
The Ceremony Fumbled A Few Attempts To Call Attention To Pressing Political Issues
Vulture's Mark Harris points out that the production botched a number of moments that could have been powerful or historic calls for representation and diversity.
Many elements that could have been more emotional with a little deft production highlighting were bobbled or under-conceived: Who were the unidentified diverse people standing up in the "Stand Up for Something" chorus and how were they different from the unidentified diverse people being "me" in the background of "This Is Me"? Daniela Vega, the first trans performer ever to present on an Oscars stage, was hurried out to introduce Sufjan Stevens and it was fairly clear that most of the people in the Dolby had no idea who she was. Likewise Eugenio Derbez, who introduced "Remember Me," and commented, "In the afterworld, there are no walls," a line that was completely lost on a roomful of manifestly-not-listening attendees. Even Ashley Judd, Annabella Sciorra, and Salma Hayek, three women for whom I thought the crowd would roar, were met instead with apprehensive respect. The audience's relationship to Time's Up felt uneasy; an early Kimmel joke about Harvey Weinstein's expulsion from the Academy got neither cheers or an "Ooh, that's rough!" reaction. It was received dutifully, as medicine the audience knew it had to take.
[Vulture]
A Diversity Montage Oversimplified The Structural Hurdles Facing People From Underrepresented Groups
Vox's Anna North and Constance Grady had mixed feelings about a self-congratulatory montage of movie clips and talking-head interviews with non-straight, non-white and/or non-male actors and directors, one of the night's most explicit moments of grappling with Hollywood's past sins.
Unfortunately, the montage itself didn't fully deal with the issue at hand. As a testament to the importance of onscreen representation for women, people of color, and LGBTQ people, it wasn't bad. As Vox's Constance Grady wrote, "it's exciting that people who are not straight white men get to see themselves represented onscreen more now than they have before, and it's an accomplishment worth celebrating."
But celebrating that accomplishment, and calling for more roles both behind and in front of the camera for people too long relegated to the sidelines, isn't the same as tackling the very specific problem of sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry. While it gave well-deserved praise to some great and groundbreaking recent movies, the montage missed the opportunity to make any real comment on how Hollywood can be safer for the people who work there.
[Vox]
Wins By Gary Oldman And Kobe Bryant Made It Clear That Time Isn't Up For Every Abuser
The Cut's Anna Silman felt uneasy about an evening that either ignored alleged abusers themselves — like last year's Best Actor winner, Casey Affleck, who sat the night out — or simply ignored the allegations against them in order to fête them.
[T]he well-oiled, safely commodified feel of last night's festivities — with opportunities for uncomfortable reckonings increasingly replaced by moments of prepackaged uplift — was more like dutiful lip service than a sign of real change. Alleged domestic abuser Gary Oldman still won his Oscar. So, somehow, did accused rapist Kobe Bryant — even if his win, unlike Oldman's, didn't feel like a foregone conclusion.
If Hollywood has internalized the lesson that the important thing is to steer clear of [Ryan] Seacrest, keep [Casey] Affleck from presenting, and then basically go about business as usual, it's hard to feel like we're witnessing a genuine change. Instead, more often, it feels like we're getting a discreetly stage-managed, tastefully censored counter-Hollywood, led by a vanguard of admirable women — which may be more appealing to the public eye, but doesn't necessarily reflect improved conditions on the ground.
[The Cut]
Host Jimmy Kimmel Deftly Handled The Difficult Task Of Joking About Hollywood's Gender Problem
On a more positive note, the Washington Post's Alyssa Rosenberg applauded host Jimmy Kimmel's opening monologue, which took a broad look at sexism in the movie industry.
Kimmel's monologue underscored the scope of Hollywood's gender problem. The industry, he suggested, misjudged women's tastes: "We made a movie called 'What Women Want,' and it starred Mel Gibson." That issue is magnified by the strikingly small number of movies that are directed by women — 11 percent, a figure Kimmel pronounced "nuts." Kimmel used the different salaries Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg received for reshoots on Ridley Scott's "All The Money in the World" to imply that actresses can't even trust their agents, who would profit if their female clients received more compensation, to fight for pay equity.
Frances McDormand's Rousing Call For 'Inclusion Riders' Was The Memorable Climax Of The Evening
Critics largely agreed that Frances McDormand's acceptance speech for the Best Actress Oscar for "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" was the highlight of an uneven show. By ending her speech with a call for "inclusion riders" — clauses in major actors' contracts that stipulate that a film project must employ a racially and gender diverse crew — McDormand gave her colleagues a concrete way to make sure Time's Up becomes more than just a trendy catchphrase.
You've got to admire McDormand for her pedagogy and her stagecraft. Nobody would have wanted to listen to a lecture on contract law in an Oscar speech. But McDormand's cryptic reference had everyone desperately researching it for themselves. Already, Brie Larson has committed to inclusion riders. Jessica Chastain had already done something similar with Octavia Spencer — who has said that she's earned five times as much because Chastain tied Spencer's deal to her own. "Men should start doing this with their female costars," Chastain tweeted back in January.
That's also the genius of McDormand's move. Many men have openly wondered how they can help with the #MeToo moment, and their answers have tended toward lip service and heartfelt but generic expressions of support. McDormand wiped that away with a specific call to action: Men must demand inclusion riders too.
[The Week]
