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| Review: Politics and an Upset Finish in the Oscars Broadcast | Review: Politics and an Upset Finish in the Oscars Broadcast |
| (about 5 hours later) | |
| After the election in November, we should have known better than to assume that a sure thing was a sure thing. | After the election in November, we should have known better than to assume that a sure thing was a sure thing. |
| Once again, at the Academy Awards, a long night produced a shocking upset and unforgettable television. After “La La Land” was announced as the winner of the long-expected best picture award and its team was in the middle of acceptance speeches, a commotion broke out onstage. | Once again, at the Academy Awards, a long night produced a shocking upset and unforgettable television. After “La La Land” was announced as the winner of the long-expected best picture award and its team was in the middle of acceptance speeches, a commotion broke out onstage. |
| “La La Land” had not won after all. Because of a mix-up — one of the presenters, Warren Beatty, blamed having the wrong results card — it turned out that the underdog “Moonlight” had not only pulled out a stunning upset but, for once, made it truly worth sitting to the end of a long, long awards show. | “La La Land” had not won after all. Because of a mix-up — one of the presenters, Warren Beatty, blamed having the wrong results card — it turned out that the underdog “Moonlight” had not only pulled out a stunning upset but, for once, made it truly worth sitting to the end of a long, long awards show. |
| The jaw-dropping live reversal of fortune came at the end of a night of celebration and politics dominated by references, overt and oblique, to the man who gave us last fall’s late-night TV shocker, President Trump, who was the first person thanked from the stage. “I mean, remember last year,” said the show’s host, Jimmy Kimmel, “when it seemed like the Oscars were racist?” | The jaw-dropping live reversal of fortune came at the end of a night of celebration and politics dominated by references, overt and oblique, to the man who gave us last fall’s late-night TV shocker, President Trump, who was the first person thanked from the stage. “I mean, remember last year,” said the show’s host, Jimmy Kimmel, “when it seemed like the Oscars were racist?” |
| It was indeed just a year ago that the controversy hanging over the Oscars was #OscarsSoWhite, when no minority actors received nominations. This year, with a more diverse field of nominees — and controversy over race and xenophobia hanging over the entire country — the film industry was ready to turn its flagellation outward. | It was indeed just a year ago that the controversy hanging over the Oscars was #OscarsSoWhite, when no minority actors received nominations. This year, with a more diverse field of nominees — and controversy over race and xenophobia hanging over the entire country — the film industry was ready to turn its flagellation outward. |
| The Oscars 2017: It’s not us — it’s him! | The Oscars 2017: It’s not us — it’s him! |
| Mr. Kimmel does less political material than many of his fellow late-night hosts. But he has a roastmaster streak that he showed off in a brisk, biting opening monologue. Announcing that the show was airing in “more than 225 countries that now hate us,” he congratulated in advance the winners who would “give a speech that the president of the United States will tweet about in all caps during his 5 a.m. bowel movement tomorrow.” | Mr. Kimmel does less political material than many of his fellow late-night hosts. But he has a roastmaster streak that he showed off in a brisk, biting opening monologue. Announcing that the show was airing in “more than 225 countries that now hate us,” he congratulated in advance the winners who would “give a speech that the president of the United States will tweet about in all caps during his 5 a.m. bowel movement tomorrow.” |
| There have been years in the past that the Oscars have been an uneasy blend of celebration and seriousness. This year, they were also a reminder that there are few escapes from politics in public life right now. | There have been years in the past that the Oscars have been an uneasy blend of celebration and seriousness. This year, they were also a reminder that there are few escapes from politics in public life right now. |
| But given the awards’ exclusionary history, maybe the strongest rejoinders to the political arguments of the day — over whom to let into the country, and to whom the culture belongs — were the winners. | But given the awards’ exclusionary history, maybe the strongest rejoinders to the political arguments of the day — over whom to let into the country, and to whom the culture belongs — were the winners. |
| In addition to “Moonlight,” we saw Viola Davis win best supporting actress for her role in “Fences.” We saw a Muslim man win best supporting actor (Mahershala Ali, for “Moonlight”). We saw the Italian-born Alessandro Bertolazzi dedicate his makeup award for “Suicide Squad” to “all the immigrants.” | |
| We didn’t see the Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, whose “The Salesman” was named best foreign-language film, because he was boycotting the ceremony in protest of Mr. Trump’s ban against travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries. But he sent a statement: “Dividing the world into the us and our enemies categories creates fear, a deceitful justification for aggression and war.” | We didn’t see the Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, whose “The Salesman” was named best foreign-language film, because he was boycotting the ceremony in protest of Mr. Trump’s ban against travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries. But he sent a statement: “Dividing the world into the us and our enemies categories creates fear, a deceitful justification for aggression and war.” |
| The broadcast will probably be polarizing, because what isn’t today? No one is entitled to an audience for political speech. Nor is anyone entitled to an awards show free of political speech. And the presidency of the guy who hosted “Celebrity Apprentice” is a tough time to argue “keep your politics out of it, celebs.” | The broadcast will probably be polarizing, because what isn’t today? No one is entitled to an audience for political speech. Nor is anyone entitled to an awards show free of political speech. And the presidency of the guy who hosted “Celebrity Apprentice” is a tough time to argue “keep your politics out of it, celebs.” |
| The Oscars being a vast show, though, there was plenty of time for material that wasn’t topical. Mr. Kimmel brought a tour-bus group into the theater in a bit that felt endless. But it was a way to bring regular people to the party. | The Oscars being a vast show, though, there was plenty of time for material that wasn’t topical. Mr. Kimmel brought a tour-bus group into the theater in a bit that felt endless. But it was a way to bring regular people to the party. |
| One of the more moving appearances of the evening, in fact, was not a celebrity but Katherine Johnson, one of the African-American women whose contributions to the space program were celebrated in “Hidden Figures.” | One of the more moving appearances of the evening, in fact, was not a celebrity but Katherine Johnson, one of the African-American women whose contributions to the space program were celebrated in “Hidden Figures.” |
| Her appearance illustrated the moving acceptance speech by Ms. Davis, who said that the actor’s job is to tell “the stories of the people who dreamed big and never saw those dreams to fruition, people who fell in love and lost.” | Her appearance illustrated the moving acceptance speech by Ms. Davis, who said that the actor’s job is to tell “the stories of the people who dreamed big and never saw those dreams to fruition, people who fell in love and lost.” |
| On a night that Hollywood was collecting its hardware and feeling its voice, these moments reminded us that none of it would happen without the people who buy the tickets and live the stories. | On a night that Hollywood was collecting its hardware and feeling its voice, these moments reminded us that none of it would happen without the people who buy the tickets and live the stories. |