Opinion: The Oscars need to change
The 2022 Oscars ceremony was one for the history books.
Nuances were birthed, celebrities earned their first awards and Disney won best animated picture. What a surprise.
Five films were nominated for the best animated picture category, and three of them were Disney films. Granted, Disney puts out a lot of films each year, but several films from a variety of studios seem to never get a chance at the award if Disney is in the running.
“Luca” and “Raya and the Last Dragon” were fine movies, but far from Oscar-worthy. “Flee” and “The Mitchells vs the Machines” achieved critical acclaim, but Disney monopolizing that award category has been an issue since it was created.
I love “Encanto.” It deserves the award, but Disney is just so despicable, that the win was an unsurprising disappointment.
While this wasn’t Disney’s first time winning an animated award, there were plenty of more heart-warming and trailblazing “firsts” that night.
According to NBC News, Ariana DeBose was the first Afro Latina, openly queer woman to win an Oscar and Troy Kotsur was the first deaf man to win an Oscar. These incredible milestones mean a lot to people with disabilities, mixed and queer people of color.
Unfortunately, most of these topics were outshined by the most newsworthy moment of the night: the slap.
The centerpiece of the night was Will Smith slapping Chris Rock. Rock made a bald head/G.I. Jane joke about Jada Pinkett-Smith, who shaved her head due to a medical condition called alopecia, which causes a person’s hair to fall out. Smith slapped him and swore at him on live television.
In an article with ABC News, we learn that Rock had no idea of Pinkett’s condition, but someone still wrote the joke. There was no research done to cover up for the comedian’s and writing team’s ignorance.
“From the information I have heard, it seems to me that he had every right to slap him,” said Autumn Marilyn Miskin, a USU senior communications major. “Some things aren’t OK to joke about, especially on live television.”
Still, Smith should not have acted violently. He contributed to toxic male stereotypes, not to mention the stereotype that Black men are more aggressive and violent. It has also brought out the nuance of deserving; does Smith deserve to keep his Oscar? He broke the Academy Awards code of conduct, which does not condone violence.
The Oscars are an overrated sentiment of Hollywood with a voting system that focuses on films that are applied and campaign the hardest, instead of actually looking at the films that deserve to win.
The awards need to focus less on the time-consuming (not really funny) comedy and more on the speeches of the people that earn awards and are really recognized for their talent. The Oscars should be about rewarding hard work and including new talent, instead of giving the same actors and the same companies awards to pat themselves on the backs. Even still, the Academy Awards need to change so they can be inclusive and respectful of all categories, mediums, and the people involved that make the entire ceremony possible.
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Megan Cowdell is a second-year communications student. She loves going on bike rides, reading mystery novels and watching cheesy movies.
— A02334008@usu.edu