Oscars 2017 got all interesting at the end

First of all, the list published in the Oregonian was lacking in some categories, as you can tell by my annotations at the bottom.

I enjoy the Oscars, even if they are somewhat tedious.  There are usually a few gems in the speeches–most often the ones given by the people who are NOT the big names–and I rarely get to see any live TV, so that’s always interesting.  Since this is the one time during the year I watch TV, even the commercials are interesting.

This year proceeded in the normal fashion.  Until that last award.  Since I had the next day off, I fully immersed myself in reading the playbacks and commentary.  I re-watched the video several times.  It’s super awkward all the way around, and a massive bummer that Moonlight didn’t get its moment in the sun the way it should have.  (Price Waterhouse Guy!  You had one job! And it wasn’t to hobnob with the best actress.)

What’s interesting about watching the moment is to see chaos happen in the background as people in the foreground are assuming things are just fine.  Three La La Land producers spoke.  You can watch the progression of understanding.  Guy #1, gives speech as if things are fine, (though things are happening behind him) then steps back for Guy #2.  While Guy #2 is speaking Guy #1 and Guy #3 confer, with Guy #3 sharing a long look with Guy #1.  As Guy #2 steps back, you can see Guy #3 think, “whatever, I’m sill going to do my speech” and steps forward to thank the usual suspects, until he peters out with “we lost, by the way, but, you know.”

Thankfully, at that point Guy #1 stepped in and gave his forceful re-awarding of best picture.  (Making him the white savior figure, which is infuriating that someone had to be, but at least he did a good job of gracefully stepping aside.)

Moonlight was one of the movies I hoped would win, so I’m glad it did.

4 thoughts on “Oscars 2017 got all interesting at the end”

  1. I missed the big moment! I was annoyed that La La Land won, so I turned it off. I didn’t realize what had happened for like an hour. Time will tell if I’m glad that Moonlight won, but I’m relieved that La La Land didn’t. Definitely not best picture material IMO.

    It’s pretty awful that the producers let three guys speak and never once tried to step in and correct the error.

    1. You were in good company with the shutting off of the TV.

      I’m guessing there have been many meetings since this happened and many procedures have been put into place. Hopefully it won’t happen again.

  2. Oh boy. It was painful and upsetting. Black Twitter was on fire once it happened (I follow quite a few people who identify as part of that Twitter feed). I record it on my DVR so I can fast forward through the commercials and then I started it just a little bit late. I sometimes catch up to real time by the end. I was lagging about 10 minutes by the time I saw it. BANANAS! Just BANANAS!

    1. My mother also uses that technique for regular TV watching. I don’t mind watching the Oscar commercials, because they are the only ones I watch all year long. 🙂

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