Things like this shouldn’t happen. The fact that it did added a touch of humanity to an otherwise predictable awards show. By now, PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm that has partnered with the Oscars for most of its 89-year history, has taken full responsibility for the mix-up. They attributed the mistake to “human error.”
The Academy, host Jimmy Kimmel and presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway could not reasonably be blamed. Even though Beatty seemed to know the winner beforehand, the final minutes of the show became fraught with unparalleled confusion: Beatty and Dunaway were given the Best Actress envelope that read, “Emma Stone – La La Land”; “La La Land” was declared the victor; the cast and crew celebrated on-stage and gave the speeches they had waited their entire careers to give; producer Jordan Horowitz then interrupted the procession to reveal the mistake, that his film did not win and that “Moonlight” was the real Best Picture winner; and one film’s crew replaced another on-stage.
To paraphrase Beatty’s remarks just before he opened the wrong envelope, the Academy values diversity. These were meant to be a few passing remarks just before Hollywood bestowed its highest honor on a film about a gay African-American male. The surprising clumsiness of what came next is laughable, but probably won’t overshadow the film itself in the years to come.
Beatty’s words aimed to tie the night’s final proceedings into a narrative years in the making. He sought to catapult “Moonlight”’s victory into the context of years of criticism that the Academy was ‘too white.’ He tried to frame it as a response to last year’s host, Chris Rock, who called the show “the White People’s Choice Awards.”
Of course, the last year has seen questions like ‘What do we need to do to get African-American people nominated for Oscars?’ fall away to ‘What do we need to do to get a woman in the White House?’ There have been more important things to attend to than to argue about who was nominated for Best Sound Mixing. Ultimately, many were shocked and disappointed by how 2016 answered both of those questions.
In the wake of the election, the pressure on liberal Hollywood to try to reverse this narrative must have escalated. Cue the 89th Academy Awards, in which “the most spectacular Freudian slip in [Oscar] history” became the ultimate metaphor for the election of the U.S. President. It was as if Hollywood was attempting to rewrite history, crowning the candidate that appealed to nostalgic tradition before recalculating to find the true victor: a candidate more outspoken about championing diversity and inclusion.
Other than this mishap at the end, the Oscars were as predictable as ever. It was almost as if the show was scared to trip up, hesitant to mention the election too often, even though Oscar viewership has already taken a nosedive during the last decade. Perhaps the Academy is, in light of the election year and this year’s record-low ratings, realizing its true sphere of influence–the film industry. After all, the protests of last year’s Oscars seemed to have tangible effects on the industry’s output in 2016.
The call for more African-American voices in the film industry, and better representation at the Oscars, was evident throughout the year. A record six African-American actors and actresses were nominated in 2017. Films like “Moonlight,” “Hidden Figures” and “Fences” thrust more stories of African-American men and women into the mainstream. Documentaries like “O.J.: Made in America,” “I Am Not Your Negro” and “13th” offered relevant insight into the issue of race in America. If this is more than a temporary trend, then it might be the best change the Oscars have ever brought.
By Garrett Moore, staff writer
