TMS Discussion: My First Year Not Watching the Oscars

(Neilson Barnard / Getty Images)

Well, the joke’s on me for choosing 2022 to be the first year since 4th grade to not make an effort to watch the Academy Awards. After the disastrous 2021 awards season, the camel’s back was finally broken and I completely lost interest in the glitz and glamour of Oscar night. I barely paid attention to the usual precursor award shows like the Golden Globes [RIP], the SAGs and the BAFTAs. Didn’t bother to watch all of the Best Picture nominees; and actually lived up to my old empty promise of eventually not writing any easy articles bitching about how unnecessary award season is. So, I thought, let’s see how I go a whole winter [or early spring this year] without any exposure or commentary leading up to the biggest night in Hollywood…Only for it to turn into one of the wildest events in modern pop culture while I was out of the house and not even near a TV. My plans of lowkey humble bragging about how not watching the Oscars didn’t make a difference at all, are now completely mute. Alas.

(Chia Bella James / Warner Bros.)

Honestly, before Will Smith shocked the whole world by sucker smacking Chris Rock on stage and on live TV, my biggest surprise from the ceremony was how many times Denis Villeneuve’s Dune won. I actually skipped the movie back when it was in theaters because I’ve never read the book and didn’t care for David Lynch’s original 1984 film adaptation [which I’m now aware is actually not an accurate representation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel]. But now my interest is piqued enough to give the 2021 version a shot at home. One of the biggest controversies with the Oscars ceremony this year was ABC and the Academy’s choice to not televise the technical categories, which only got the network and groups backlash on social media and in the press. Lo and behold, most of the winners in those non-televised segments were to Dune. Hopefully the negative feedback on the ill decision is a wake up and isolated incident, especially since the live footage ended up going over schedule 45 minutes anyway.

(Emma McIntyre / Getty Images)

My favorite film nominated this year, Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World, went home empty handed twice, sadly. One film—P.T. Anderson’s Licorice Pizza—from a longtime favorite filmmaker of mine, ended the night without winning any of its three nominations either. Which was actually fine by me, since I still have a few criticisms of the movie’s execution despite generally enjoying viewing it. I thought it was cool Ariana DeBose won Best Supporting Actress for portraying Anita in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story sixty years after Rita Moreno won for the same role and category; continuing the impressive streak of Anita being an award friendly character for most actresses who play her. I’m now intrigued with Sian Heder’s CODA, after it ended up stealing nearly all the hype from Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast and snatching Best Picture at the finish line. As for The Slap itself, all I’m going to say is that I feel bad Questlove and the rest of the Summer of Soul team couldn’t fully enjoy winning Best Documentary because of the drama.

And…that’s about it from me. Who knows what chaotic energy future award seasons will bring.