The Oscars 2021: this was the awards ceremony 1:57
(CNN) -
The Oscars are over and, except perhaps for the winners, the prevailing feeling is more relief than euphoria. If we can keep a message from the ceremony and the previous event, it is the hope that better days will come, after a face-to-face ceremony that indicates the possibility of returning to the cinema.
The awards galas have experienced great difficulties during the pandemic, and the 93rd Academy Awards is no exception, despite the advantage of crowning a long 14-month "awards season" calendar. However, even an optimistic analysis might consider the presentation to be poor, amid a series of decisions that ranged from puzzling to totally wrong.
The awards themselves made history on several fronts.
Chloé Zhao of "Nomadland" became the second woman to win the best director award and the first woman of color for a film released on the Hulu streaming service, a seemingly inevitable milestone in a year that, out of necessity, he temporarily erased those barriers.
The news about the Oscars that China censored 0:54
The years of effort to promote diversity after the #OscarsSoWhite campaign were evident elsewhere, such as in the awards for Korean "Minari" co-star Yuh-Jung Youn, or in Pixar's "Soul," the first film of the year. animation studio with a mostly African-American cast.
Even Anthony Hopkins' Oscar for "The Father," which while preventing Chadwick Boseman from receiving that honor posthumously, made the 83-year-old actor the oldest winner.
This was a blow to age discrimination in an industry known for practicing it.
However, these advances are just one way to judge this multifaceted initiative, reflecting progress in some areas and shortcomings in others.
Where to see the films nominated for the Oscars 2021 for best picture
The Oscars, under the direction of Steven Soderbergh, were intended to celebrate people who make films and, as the acclaimed director stated before the gala, provide them with the experience, the magic moment, of accepting the awards in the company of their peers.
However, by focusing on the winners and nominees, the producers seem to have forgotten about the audience.
By largely dispensing with clips of the nominated films, which were surely seen by few potential viewers, the producers delivered the most verbal Oscars of recent times, with lengthy host testimonials and the absence of a «button». Finish »in acceptance speeches.
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Bringing items normally featured during the broadcast, such as recorded performances of nominated songs, to the pre-event allowed enough time for this.
However, this tactic deprived the awards of most of their traditional entertainment assets and, in a year marked by losses, producers inexplicably rushed into the "In Memoriam" segment, undercutting what could have been one of the most emotional moments.
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Zendaya, one of the hosts of the night, arrives on the red carpet.
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Reese Witherspoon, a former best actress Oscar winner, walks the red carpet.
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Los Angeles wasn't the only place with an Oscars red carpet.
Here, actress Olivia Colman poses in London.
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Billie Holliday's portrayal of Andra Day earned her a best actress nomination.
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Actress Laura Dern presented a pair of awards during the ceremony.
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Andra Day poses on the red carpet in front of Union Station in Los Angeles.
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Lakeith Stanfield arrives on the London red carpet.
Stanfield was nominated for best supporting actor ("Judas and the Black Messiah").
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Halle Berry shows her dress.
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Actress Margot Robbie waves as she walks the red carpet.
She was one of the producers of the best picture nominee "Promising Young Woman."
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Carey Mulligan ("Promising Young Woman") was one of the nominees for best actress Chris Pizzelo / Pool / Getty Images
It's true that simply organizing these awards during the pandemic allowed experimentation, while easing the usual pressure to maximize audience ratings.
That's the only reasonable explanation for changing the traditional order of awards and handing out the best picture award before the major acting categories, setting the stage for the night's awkward end.
Assuming viewership figures drop sharply, it will be difficult to determine to what extent this goes beyond the hands of producers and to what extent it is due, at least in part, to a broadcast that has often given the impression of being a broadcast. fundraising campaign on public television.
Measuring the impact of the awards will be just as difficult, as streaming services, which dominated the night, racking up about two-thirds of the awards, are notorious for not revealing how many people watch them.
Will more people subscribe to Hulu because "Nomadland" won?
Will fewer users cancel Netflix for its seven awards?
Can the benefits of marketing, advertising and talent relationships be translated into tangible value?
ANALYSIS |
Oscar nominations: Once an outsider, Netflix could be the star in a year of heavy streaming
Oscars have always been, and still are, a career pinnacle, among the first lines of the obituary for any entertainer lucky enough to win one. But the true legacy of this year's awards could simply be putting the last nail in a terrible year for cinema, throwing a cloud over the entire theatrical model.
During the pre-broadcast event on ABC, David Rubin, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, expressed his hope that cinema could "lead the way to a life at the end of the tunnel" after the pandemic , heralding a time when people can safely meet again, even in movie theaters. A video with the hashtag #TheBigScreenIsBack (The big screen is back) promoted watching movies "the way you've always liked them."
If that happens, the flaws in this year's Oscars broadcast, and the catastrophic comments about the future of cinema, will likely be forgotten.
A return to normalcy will lead to hopes that larger films and commercials will spike viewership ratings, even if Sunday night's show fits the grim predictions.
For the moment, however, the organizers of this year's Academy Awards can, at best, take some satisfaction in having met the goal of encouraging the industry.
Only in doing so, coming to the end of this extremely difficult year, they failed to put on a great show.
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