What will inevitably be remembered as the “slap” immediately won the Oscars the viral moment that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been chasing for years, as viewership has plummeted, especially for younger viewers. The disconnect between Hollywood movies and the public has only widened in the last two years, when the coronavirus pandemic stopped many releases, shut down cinemas and sent people to their couches with remote controls in hand. Although “CODA” won Best Picture, Best Actress Will Smith slapped presenter Chris Rock for making a joke at the 94th Academy Awards on March 27. (Video: Allie Caren / The Washington Post, Photo: The Washington Post) Did they watch movies? The television; The distinction became increasingly blurred as feature-length films were absorbed into the large narrative of visual narrative flowing through our home screens at breakneck speed and increasingly unmanageable volume. In an effort to attract new viewers, the academy used social media to ask fans about their most iconic 2021 movie moments, as well as their favorite movies. The results were impressive, with two memorable Zack Snyder productions – “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” and “Army of the Dead” – gaining top honors in something that looked suspiciously like a huge trolling business. The story goes on under the ad “CODA”, which in recent weeks has quietly surpassed Campion’s Netflix movie “The Power of the Dog” as the best movie, has undoubtedly been popular with people who have seen it. but according to a recent report on Deadline, less than a million people have watched it on Apple TV Plus since it premiered on streaming service in August. “Power of the Dog” was considered a hit on Netflix, but only about 3 million people have seen it on the service. (“Don’t Look Up”, the satire on climate change that was also nominated for Best Picture, was seen by more than 10 million Netflix subscribers.) Meanwhile, movies that made it to theaters in 2021 – movies like “Spider-Man: No Way Home” and James Bond’s “No Time to Die” went home almost empty-handed on Sunday. , although Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell won for the Bond theme song. In a nod to the old-fashioned big-screen entertainment of “Dune,” Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science fiction novel won six Oscars, mostly in craft categories such as sound, editing, production design and score music. This year, the academy announced that these awards will be presented before the television broadcast. The recorded speeches were completed on the live broadcast in something that was tantamount to uncomfortably processed thoughts. The result was a painfully obvious mixed message: The academy’s stated reason for slapping the technical categories was to shorten the program, which was still inflated. However, throughout the show, they continued to trick actors and directors into paying homage to the classic films of the past, resulting in such strange companions as “White Men Can’t Jump” and “Juno”. The applause for “Pulp Fiction” and “The Godfather”, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, was arguably more logical. But as the Hollywood elite rose to pay homage to The Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola and his stars Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, the sound was not so much applause as a whistle in front of a cemetery. If Coppola were to present “The Godfather” today, it would undoubtedly be a series on Hulu, with the required number of spinoffs and prequels written in the contract as deliverables. Then there was the inevitable link between the racial violence and aggression celebrated in these films and the bizarre moment between Smith and Rock – a moment that, given American cinema’s long-standing love of violence and rituals, and revenge, may have been shocking, but it should not have come as a surprise. “The academy does not approve of any form of violence,” the group said in a statement after the ceremony. “Except for the movies.” 1974; Marlon Brando’s refusal to receive his award in person. the confusion with “La La Land” that was announced when “Moonlight” won in 2017. But Smith’s outburst was another order of magnitude, both in the rage of his performance and in the full of emotions and history that pushed it. The story goes on under the ad Smith, who seemed to have most of the room with him, returned to deliver a five-minute welcome speech in which he apologized to the academy and his candidates and explained his actions in a way that made them understandable. , though deep. regrettable. He had made the Oscars timely when the films themselves could not, in a way that will haunt this year’s ceremony forever and will undoubtedly bring viewers back next year to catch the second act.
