by David Cornelius
There was something quite offensive on display at last night’s Academy Awards show, and no, it wasn’t host Chris Rock.
In fact, Rock’s no-holds-barred manner of hosting was a wonderful relief for the Oscars, and I’m hoping he returns next year. No, the offense came from veteran Oscar show producer Gil Cates’ new idea on how to spice up the program, how to keep things moving in an attempt to keep viewers interested. It worked - the show zipped along at lightning speed, and at just over three hours, it was one of the shortest Oscar telecasts in recent memory. But it all came at the expense of those nominated for the technical categories.
You probably noticed (how could you not?) the awkward way in which many of the trophies were awarded last night. For some categories, ranging from Best Art Direction to Best Documentary Feature, all of the nominees were lined up on stage like “American Idol’ contenders; when the presenters announced the winners’ names, the winners got to step forward. This, then, left the losers to be shuffled off the stage in front of everyone (except the TV audience - the Loser Shuffle was done off camera, during the winners’ speeches).
As if this sort of presentation wasn’t clumsy enough, other awards, such as Best Makeup and Best Live Action Short Film, were handed out in the audience. Yup, in a stunning display of thoughtlessness, Cates felt that some winners, to many of whom this will be the biggest event in their lives, don’t even need to bother coming up on stage. Instead, these unlucky victors were asked to give their speech to a camera (facing away from the audience!) placed in one of the main aisles.
But if you were watching closely, you probably noticed that these gimmicky presentations were not used for the “bigger” categories. Contenders for acting, directing, cinematography, and music still got the classic treatment, the winners in these categories still given the pleasure of marching down the aisle and up to the stage, that extra few seconds allowing for just a few extra moments of Oscar glory.
The irony here is that for years, the Academy frowned on those hosts and presenters who would make light of the “lesser” categories. Among Johnny Carson’s most famous zingers came after a winner in the sound effects category couldn’t make it to the show: “First George C. Scott doesn't show, then Marlon Brando, and now Alan Splet.” The joke, while quite funny, seemed too mean to some members of the Academy, who felt their prizes were every bit as valid as the major celebrities’.
But, according to Cates, it looks like they’re not. The whole show had a take-your-trophy-and-get-lost attitude toward non-celebs; like the 2003 telecast, in which everything felt so overly, irritatingly rushed that nobody had a chance to truly enjoy their wins (and the viewer no chance to enjoy with them), the show here felt built to shove the smaller names out of the way as soon as possible. Even the tradition of showing clips of nominated short films (if only briefly, while the nominees’ names are read) was dumped, the thought, I suppose, being “who cares about Best Live Action Short Film anyway?” And, unless your name was Jamie Foxx, your speech was certain to be cut off, even earlier than usual.
Host Rock summed it up best, suggesting that next year, they’ll just hand out awards in the parking lot, perhaps even put up a drive-thru: “An Oscar and a McFlurry.”
There’s a big mistake in this line of thinking. Some of the most memorable moments in Oscar’s past decade came from the “smaller” awards: think of the American Express dress, or of Keiko Ibi, whose teary, heartfelt acceptance speech for Best Documentary Short Film stole the show, or of Michael Silvers and Randy Thom, whose victory for Sound Effects Editing for “The Incredibles” went into a brief pitch on how the technical work requires just as much artistic vision as acting or directing. This comment earned applause from last night’s crowd… and to think that Cates’ kind of show is trying to keep such magical moments from happening.
Thankfully, there’s someone like Rock acting as a voice of reason (too bad his jokes didn’t make it through the thick skull of Sean Penn). His “parking lot” comment called out Cates’ rudeness, and his sarcastic manner throughout the broadcast was welcome relief from the producer’s limp attempts to “hip up” the show (let’s get Beyonce to ruin the already unlistenable Best Song nominees!). Every year, the show’s producers try to come up with some way to make the Oscars more appealing to the Average Joe. And every year, the solution always seems to be to take away the honors bestowed upon the lesser-known categories. This year, Cates went way too far, slapping every non-celebrity in the face. Even Alan Splet would be upset.
link directly to this feature at http://www.hollywoodbitchslap.com/feature.php?feature=1389
originally posted: 02/28/05 18:31:36
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