The long-awaited Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, has officially announced its list of nominations for 2023. The award ceremony has been a staple of the film industry since 1929, when the first-ever Oscars was held. Now, 95 years later, the tradition is still going strong.
The Oscars celebrate the art of filmmaking, granting awards to those who have shown exemplary skill in acting, screenwriting, editing, cinematography, directing, production, music, costume design and special effects. The award show also recognizes a variety of film mediums, including animation, documentaries, short films and international films. With its long history and dedication to film, the Oscars have earned a reputation as an extremely prestigious award show, honoring some of the most respected professionals in the film industry. Of the many awards presented, the Best Picture category is considered the most important award of the night, as it honors a film’s culmination of directing, acting and writing. It is the very last award to be announced and certainly leaves audiences waiting until the final minute to discover its winner. This year, nominations for the category include All Quiet on the Western Front, Avatar: The Way of Water, The Banshees of Inisherin, Elvis, Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Fabelmans, Tar, Top Gun: Maverick, Triangle of Sadness and Women Talking. The ceremony will be hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and will premiere on March 12.
While the Oscars is an exciting night for movie lovers, it has gained popularity for its drama both on and offstage. Despite its prestige, the award show has been involved in several controversies, gaining traction among audiences and especially on social media. Most recently, the 2022 Oscars went viral after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock for making a joke about Smith’s wife, Jada-Pinkett Smith. During the Oscars’ three-hour time slot, it received nearly 33 million engagements on Twitter, largely due to the audience’s shock after the slap. It immediately became a viral sensation, sparking both outrage and excitement from online audiences. The incident followed both actors afterward, with Will Smith eventually making an online, public apology.
This is just one of the many scandals that have occurred during the Oscars ceremony. Other notorious moments include the 2017 mishap when the wrong title card was handed to Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, who were in charge of presenting the Best Picture award. In a moment of confusion, the award was announced for La La Land when it was originally intended for Moonlight. It took several minutes for the mistake to be recognized, resulting in the entire cast and crew of La La Land walking on stage and accepting the award before anyone could explain what had happened.
Among its many scandalous moments, the Oscars have also acted as a platform for protest. In 1973, Marlon Brando won Best Actor for his role in The Godfather but was absent from the award show. Instead of appearing, he sent Sacheen Littlefeather to accept the award on his behalf. Then, as she took the stage, she proceeded to read a statement written by Brando, which criticized the film industry’s negative depictions and abuse towards Native Americans. Her speech was met with jeers from the crowd and she claims that actor John Wayne had to be “restrained by six security men from assaulting [her].” Nearly fifty years later, in 2022, Littlefeather received an apology from the Academy Awards, which described the abuse she endured as “unwarranted and unjustified.”
Another protest occurred during the 2016 Oscars when a social justice campaign was sparked by the trending hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. The hashtag gained popularity as people took to social media to criticize the Oscars’ lack of diversity among nominees. The nominations only included two people of color in major categories amid a very large, white majority. In response, celebrities Spike Lee, Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith boycotted the event to show their support.
As the Oscars’ premiere date grows closer, there is a buzz of excitement about the event among Gen Z movie fans. While fans may place their bets on potential winners or speech lengths, there is certainly no way of knowing what the night will bring. The only expectation that audiences can hold is that it will be a night to remember.
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