I figured since The Academy Awards/Oscars aired last night (February 9, 2020) it’s only appropriate that I use this scheduled pop culture post to write my reaction.
Since I had gone through the trouble of making an Oscar Ballot, my parents and I all chose our selections at breakfast Sunday morning so we were ready for the awards Sunday night. And then we watched the WHOLE show. I wore my popcorn socks (not made of popcorn but they have pictures of 🍿 on them) and pressured my Dad into making popcorn! I also live tweeted during the show on my @popwatching Twitter account with updates on how we were doing on our predictions. And sob 😢 I didn’t win. My Dad got 12/24, I got 10/24, and Mom got 8/24. Granted none of us did really great, but we had fun (and I created a hashtag: #watchingtheoscarswithmyparents).
My Reaction
My overall reaction was “Guess I have to get over the name ‘Parasite’ since it won Best Picture!” I also thought the Academy was kind of making up for the fact they didn’t nominate a lot of minorities by selecting “Parasite” (a movie from South Korea) for Best Picture, etc. However, I choose to not really be that pessimistic. I haven’t seen “Parasite” (see my earlier reference to how the name creeps me out) but I assume it’s a quality movie. Of the Best Picture nominees, my parents and I saw three (out of nine nominated movies), I really didn’t have a favorite because they were so different. I loved Greta Gerwig’s interpretation of “Little Women.” Her vision (she was the writer/director of that film) really looked like how I envisioned it when I first read the novel when I was 12 or 13. However, I didn’t appreciate the flashes back and forth through time. I suppose as a devotee of the book any straying from it makes me uneasy (that’s not to say I don’t understand when writers stray from the source material to abide by time constraints, etc.). And “Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood” was decidedly restrained for Quentin Tarantino. There still is some gritty violence but the bulk of the movie I felt OK watching it with my parents (which I can’t say about many of Tarantino’s films). The other Best Picture nominee we saw was “The Irishman” directed by Martin Scorsese. It had a more traditional “old Hollywood” feel to it. It was very traditionally shot and told but everything was done with meticulous perfection. If “Parasite” broke with “Old Hollywood” traditions (which I assume it did since it was literally from another country and culture) then I can understand the win. I think I really do need to see it now (I won’t force my parents to watch it).
Here’s a graphic I did listing all the winners.
I also recommend going to the Oscars website and looking around. They have videos of each of the acceptance speeches individually and also the whole show. All video on their site of the Oscars is closed captioned (I checked). Watch Janelle Monae’s opening number for sure (it was AMAZING).
Hopes For Next Year
As I said on Twitter, I really hope the Oscars and Hollywood wake up and give minorities and women more opportunities to make films and recognize them for that work.
Also, Selby (my cute cocker spaniel) watched a lot of the movies with us. Don’t roll your eyes at that. She DOES watch TV! I think she was rooting for Kitbull to win animated short (it’s about a pit bull and a stray cat).
Memoir Writing Update
No progress since I broke 50,000 words. I still have more story to tell so I will be continuing writing my memoir.
Writing By Laura 