Opening scene. I walk through the door and am greeted by fellow Elon cinema majors dressed in costume for the 83rd Annual Academy Awards. A black swan hands me a bottle of water while the white swan thrusts a note card in my hand.
“Write your predictions for the big seven.” she said and glides away. I don’t hesitate. Best Picture: The Kings Speech, Best Actor: Colin Firth, Best Actress: Natalie Portman, Supporting Actor: Christian Bale, Supporting Actress: Hailee Steinfeld, Director: David Fincher, and Original Screenplay: Inception.
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Turns out I was about half right. In the shock of the night, Tom Hooper of The King’s Speech won Best Director over David Fincher of The Social Network. The King’s Speech came away with four Academy Awards including Best Picture, Original Screenplay and a Lead Actor win for Colin Firth. Other multiple winners include Inception with four wins, The Social Network with three and Alice in Wonderland with two. Natalie Portman, of course, came away with the Oscar for her role in Black Swan while Melissa Leo and Christian Bale were both honored for their supporting roles in The Fighter.
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The other dynamic duo of the night, James Franco and Anne Hathaway, played off each other fairly well and provided a hilarious opening sequence that poked fun at Inception. Franco and Hathaway traveled through Alex Baldwin’s dreams and were placed on the sidelines of the Best Picture nominations. Their Boston accents may not have been spot-on in The Fighter, but the jovial attitude was.
Many times during the night the hosts made not so subtle comments about trying to garner a younger audience for the spectacle. They referenced Twitter, joked about how they only landed the hosting gig so young girls would spend an evening watch James Franco, and even went so far as to auto-tune songs from some of this years films, including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and Eclipse. These efforts were superficial at best and the tongue-in-cheek awards ceremony still seemed geared towards the older demographic.
The Academy has had a long history in America and The Oscars seem to be the only time they remind the public of their contribution. They kept the historical aspects shorter this year and incorporated a holograph of Bob Hope while the stage was set for the 25th Annual Academy Awards. Celine Dion sang, “Smile”, beautifully as a montage of stars that passed this year played on the screen. It was a fantastic song to honor those like Leslie Nielson and Dennis Hopper.
Still going strong, however, was Kirk Douglas who presented Best Supporting Actress. He was spritely and livelier than Franco and Hathaway together. Douglas was about to open the envelope when he began play fighting with the stagehand over his cane, putting the envelope in his mouth. The other man was taller, and Douglas proclaimed, “I always lose.” Even then Douglas wasn’t done, he flirted with Hathaway saying he wished actresses were as beautiful back in his day, and then tortured the nominees by prolonging the opening of the envelope. Eventually, he welcomed Melissa Leo to the stage, where she unconsciously dropped an f-bomb quickly censored by the network. Embarrassed, Leo used Douglas’ cane to walk off the stage while Douglas moved just fine on his own.
Outshined by Douglas, Hathaway and Franco began to pale in comparison. Hathaway, dressed in a tuxedo, took the stage for a parody of “On My Own” from Les Miserables that she claimed was supposed to be a duet between her and Hugh Jackman. Jackman smiled up at her from the front row but didn’t sing to the disappointment of the room. Once the song ended, Franco sauntered on stage wearing a hot pink dress, Marilyn Monroe wig and bright lipstick, saying if Hathaway got to wear a tux, he could wear a dress. If there was a purpose to that little stunt other than shock value it did not come across to the audience and the harems of women across America who tuned in to see Franco may have tuned out.
Another duo that didn’t seem quite right was Scarlett Johansson and Matthew McConaughey when presenting Sound Mixing and Sound Editing. Their faces were extraordinarily blank and their idea of presenting seemed to be repeating the word “sound” in the same monotone inflection until the audience decided it was funny.
On the other hand, was Russell Brand and Helen Mirren, presenting for Foreign Language Film. Mirren spoke entirely in French while Brand mistakenly interpreted her words and kept insisting to her that he was flattered, but he just got married. It was a quick joke that lasted just long enough to be funny without becoming tiresome.
All in all, Hollywood’s biggest night was a success for all involved, it’s just not clear if that includes the audience at home. Renewed for another ten years, The Academy Awards is a ceremony meant to honor achievements that, this year, couldn’t seem to bridge the gap into a spectacle of entertainment.
Photo Credits
Anne Hathaway and James Franco
Oscar
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