93rd Academy Awards Upsets
The 93rd Academy Awards (aka the Oscars) took place last Sunday, April 25th. Many of the categories went as expected, but there were a few key upsets. This was the first live award show in a very long time. Others, like the Golden Globes and the Emmys, were all remotely held over zoom and it was very chaotic to say the least. Even though the Oscars were held in person, we would say it was even more chaotic-- creating an event that was very similar to when they infamously screwed up the best picture win a couple of years ago.
There was no host, because the Oscars will never have a host again apparently. Also, it was held at Union Square train station in Los Angeles instead of the usual place at the Dolby Theater. It got off to a weird start with the amazing Regina King walking to the stage for like 5 minutes? While she was walking, the credits were being shown, with the theme of the fonts and background pictures looking like it was straight from the MTV Awards. The place itself looked like a Starbucks café. Junior Lina Tornese says, “Can someone please tell me what is happening???” Regina was understandably winded when she finally got to the stage, and she gave a speech, whilst gasping for air. I’m pretty sure everyone felt bad, because that probably sucked. Also, they snubbed her for directing this year after her directorial debut, so this was pretty ruthless.
After that, it was actually pretty okay for a while, with adored celebrities presenting the awards, and also taking the time to introduce the mainly unknown nominees. Additionally, there were many well-deserved wins, including Daniel Kaluuya and Youn Yuh-Jung winning best supporting actor and actress, respectively. Senior Danielle Barber said, “It’s always so great to see people of color win the awards they deserve instead of being ignored!”
About 2 hours later, things got messy real fast. Around this time, the first major upset of the night happened, with Mank winning the best cinematography award instead of Nomadland, as the latter was overwhelmingly praised for its beautiful landscape shots and close-ups. After that, the best song was announced, with H.E.R. taking the win for the song “Fight For You” which she wrote and performed for the movie Judas and the Black Messiah. This was a big shock, as it was ranked 4th to win, with very slim odds. Many assumed the award would go to Leslie Odom Jr. for his song “Speak Now,” in One Night in Miami, which would have put him one award away from an EGOT. Senior Isabella Mule says, “I was extremely shocked when “Speak Now” did not win. I was hoping Leslie would get the award.” Nobody was extremely disappointed per say with the H.E.R. win, since the song is great. H.E.R. is extremely talented and deserves recognition, but this win was surprising.
Next, even though there was only 20 minutes left of the allotted time for this show, they decided to play a game, which ended in Glenn Close twerking??? Kinda weird not gonna lie. The game then left the show with only five more minutes of the allotted time, but the producers obviously didn’t care, as they went 30 minutes over. After making it seem like they weren’t going to do an In Memoriam segment for the people who passed this year, they did. The In Memoriam was the fastest segment ever set to a pretty peppy song which was an odd choice.
Cue a commercial break and all of a sudden they are announcing the Best Picture. Best Picture always comes last, always. However, they still had both lead acting awards to announce. Best Picture was no shock as Nomadland, the frontrunner, swiftly won. Quickly moving on to lead actress, with Frances McDormand winning, the lead in Nomadland. This category was all over the place for the whole awards season. Many predicted Carey Mulligan or Viola Davis to win, so this was also a sort of surprise, and an end to the wackiest actress category ever. They left the Lead Actor category for last, causing many (us included) to think that it was to honor the late Chadwick Boseman’s memory when he posthumously won the award. Surprisingly, Anthony Hopkins took the win after only winning the BAFTA, and the show ended abruptly after that. No speech was given, even though Hopkins’ wanted to give a speech over zoom, which was denied by the producers.
Needless to say-- what was happening??? This was a very crazy Oscars, the craziest we’ve seen in a very, very long time. Let’s hope next year’s Oscars is less cringey and chaotic, but hey, chaotic events are way more entertaining. Be sure to check out the Lady Nadoes review, reaction, and discussion of the whole event and not just the upsets.