In all honesty, I have loved each and every Academy Award broadcast I’ve watched faithfully since the age of 12. This includes the good years (too many to mention here) and bad years (uh, Rob Lowe duetting with a cartoon Snow White anyone?) and the usual marathon-lengthed Oscar broadcasts that sometimes feel like they’re going into the following week. But, even I have to admit there have been certain moments during this yearly viewing ritual, which have perked me up tremendously.
Those were years when they were one or two black actors sprinkled into the nominations. Over the last thirty years, whenever the Oscar show opening camera does that grand sweeping crowd shot of the audience, the African American presence was always akin to chocolate chips in a cookie. A little over here—look there’s Jada, a dab here—wow, Halle looks nice and a few big ones right up front—there's Denzel! And although it’s not an annual occurrence, the last decade has consistently seen a lot more chocolate chips added to the recipe.
I’m a hardcore fan of the traditional, ‘mainstream’ Hollywood royalty crew—from Meryl to Jessica to Jack and DeNiro plus 'youngbloods' like Sean. But something happens when someone who looks like you hits that stage. Oprah Winfrey has repeatedly discussed how life changingly affirming it was for her a youth to witness Sidney Poitier winning his Oscar in 1963. Seeing a black actor or actress glide across that huge, waxed floor at Hollywood’s Kodak Theater is akin to watching your aunt, uncle, cousin, brother or sister get the most important award in the biz on the industry’s biggest night. You innately beam pride and it simply cannot be helped, because that’s family up there.
The Oscar telecast is my Superbowl. Everything from the red carpet arrivals (the pre show) to the kick off (the host’s opening monologue) to half time (the in memoriam montage) and finally the best picture award announcement (final field goal) always delivers dramatic, suspenseful type fun. I love making predictions, being proven right and trying to figure out why I was wrong. And I live for the glamour, pageantry, tradition, good fashion sense and especially bad style of Hollywood’s version of a high school prom.
Every year the popular boys and girls change. And with each award winning graduating class, the newly-minted actors, writers, directors and their movies are forever belong to a lifelong, special group of historically, industry-standard ultimate gold seal of goodness—it’s both cute and very quaint.
But, if you love movies you should be watching too. See what films were awarded for being really amazing, or at least interesting. Witness what actors picked up the trophy for political or sympathetic reasons. Peep as the camera repeatedly
pans over to losing actors painfully watching winning actors take ‘their
Oscars’ away all night long through gangrene smiles. And check out the sour puss on that husband as his soon-to-be ex-wife picks up an Academy Award (Sorry Ryan and
Reese!) There’s drama, brilliant and failed
show openings and ‘what in the hell just happened?’ moments galore in them there Oscar telecast hills that just can’t be scripted. But in all seriousness, the Academy Award broadcast, seen annually by a billion people in 90 countries, serves as a huge barometer of where we as a people and the various contributions of our cultures fit into the greater pantheon of our historical recorded image and worldview. Never thought of it that way? I’m reminded of that weight and importance every time I discuss black actors and the entertainment industry with any of my
first cousins in Nigeria. Yes, it’s just entertainment, but at the end of
the day it’s also just that deep.
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