After what felt like the longest awards season in history, the 2021 Oscars have now come and gone. Going into the night, the producers of the show promised that the evening would “feel like a movie.” While we didn’t know what they meant by that at first, their vision became clear as soon as Regina King stepped into frame, kicking off a long tracking shot of her strutting through a transformed Union Station. Category is: Steven Soderbergh realness!
As King said in her speech, the entire evening was literally treated as though they were filming a movie. “Just like on a movie set, when we are rolling, masks off. And when we’re not rolling, masks on.” All guests followed vigorous COVID protocols and instead of all packing into the seats at the Dolby Theatre, this year, all of the nominees were seated in spacious, tiered banquettes built at L.A.’s Union Station.
This past year has been unlike anything anyone has ever experienced. It’s rather bizarre to gather to celebrate movies that came out during a time when no one could actually physically go to a movie theatre! Rather than try to make the whole proceeding feel “normal,” the producers smartly opted to blow up the traditional format. Ultimately, the results were mixed.
Glenn Close, but No Cigar
One of the more baffling choices was to announce Best Picture before Best Actress and Actor. It’s fair to assume that the producers (along with most pundits and our PopViewers) thought that the late Chadwick Boseman was a shoo-in for the final category. What would have been a sentimental note to end the night on turned into a thud after the award surprisingly went to Anthony Hopkins! Hopkins didn’t even attend the ceremony because, like the rest of us, he didn’t think he would win! He DID, however, make history as now being the oldest person to ever receive an Oscar at the age of 83!
Other historic moments included Nomadland director, Chloé Zhao, becoming the first woman of color to win the Oscar for Best Director! (She’s only the second woman ever to win the award!) Yuh-Jung Youn became the first Korean to win Best Supporting Actress for her work in Minari. And Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson (from Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) made history as the first black women to win an Oscar award for best makeup and hairstyling!
As predicted, Nomadland, ended up taking the top prize of Best Picture. Here’s what our PopViewers had to say about the film!
The different setting for the evening did add a sense of intimacy to the proceedings. But, most often, the room came across as feeling dead to the at-home audience. Clearly, viewers agreed as this was the lowest-rated Oscars ceremony in HISTORY! We’re talking about a 58% drop-off from last year! These numbers weren’t helped by the fact that, for the most part, this year’s nominees failed to resonate with a large audience. There were no blockbusters to root for this year because no blockbuster movies were RELEASED over the pandemic. That being said, couldn’t we have thrown in even a few musical numbers for us folks at home??? Acceptance speech after speech just grew old.
Speaking of music- one of the best moments of the night came during the pre-show with an INCREDIBLE performance of ‘Húsavík,’ the Oscar-nominated song from the film Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. Molly Sandén performed the number along with an Icelandic children’s choir, fireworks, AND the northern lights!!! How this was not included in the actual telecast, we’ll never know!
Ultimately, viewers who did make it 3 hours into the telecast were treated to the moment of the night during a bit in which Lil Rel and Questlove quizzed audience members with Oscars trivia. Glenn Close may have lost her record-breaking eighth Oscar last night, but she WON the entire evening when she got up from her seat and did the “Da Butt” move!
Glenn Close, everyone! #Oscars pic.twitter.com/akwOxvRS6s
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) April 26, 2021
Low ratings and some awkwardness aside, we were ultimately thrilled to see such diverse talent recognized! Here’s to getting back into movie theaters and to next year’s ceremony. Who knows…. maybe it will finally be Glenn’s year!
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