OSCARS 2024 Quick Reactions
The curtain just closed on a fun Academy Awards. This was our sixth year watching the awards and the #HATM crew clearly had a lot of fun during the event.1 I’ll have more thoughts later but here are a few to chew on.
Big Winners: Oppenheimer and Poor Things
As expected, Oppenheimer did extremely well, winning Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, and Best Film Editing. Poor Things did indeed capitalize on late heat, winning Emma Stone another Best Actress award along with Best Production Design and Best Makeup & Hairstyling.
Biggest Shocker: Emma Stone, Poor Things. I think as much as we all love Stone (and I think she is tremendous), we were all hoping and expecting Lily Gladstone to win Best Actress. It feels too much to say that we wanted a Native woman portraying a Native woman to win based on who she is; that’s too much to place on anyone. But that no Indigenous person has won an Academy Award feels wrong, based either on the Academy’s overlooking or historic lack of opportunities and representation in Hollywood and it’s probably both. But Gladstone acted her ass off in this. I wanted her to win. I hate that she didn’t. But this book, this movie, and her performance got many people talking and learning Osage history for the first time. Overlooking Gladstone puts a bitter taste in the mouth. I’m hoping, however, that we see more of her, and soon.
Most fun: Godzilla Minus One. By now, you know how I feel about this film. Oppenheimer was the best movie last year, but GMO stuck with me the most. I feel like they are two parts of the same conversation as we grapple with the war 80 years later and still live in the post Oppenheimer world. Somehow, this was the first Oscar in the history of the Academy. That feels weird, except the Academy tends to overlook comedies, science fiction, and yes, monster films in favor of “more serious” movies. This one felt like a victory for years of fandom. I immediately emailed podcast guests Bill Tsutsui and Akiko Takenaka. I can’t wait for their response.
Most heartfelt: 20 Days in Mariupol. I get to type this tonight from the warmth of my home, next to my 12 year-old cat and my 13 month-old dog. My safety is not in question. But on the other side of the earth men, women, and children are fighting for their lives because Vladmir Putin ordered his military to invade Ukraine. These folks are dependent upon us for their defense and we are failing them due to Republican refusal to stand up to Putin or frankly, Donald Trump. I’ve included the speech below.
Best line of the night: Jimmy Kimmel. Apparently septugenarian toddler Donald Trump was also watching the Oscars, sending his nonsense out into Truth Social critquing host Jimmy Kimmel. Kimmel actually paused the event to read Trump’s rambling only to answer “isn’t it past your jailtime?”
Takeaways: The longer I’ve been doing this, the more I’ve started to internalize the connections between history and film. After all, we are all just storytellers. We’re trying to talk about the human condition. And when I look at the films nominated this year- Oppenheimer, Rustin, Maestro, Killers of the Flower Moon, Nyad, and yes, Godzilla Minus One- what I see is a recognition that art is a powerful tool to tell history. And if you’ll forgive the very real and intended pun, we are all historians at the movies.
More coming soon.
Thanks for being here.
Jason
Though seriously, I thought my stance on mayonnaise was well-established.