That Movie Won WHAT? Oscars 2019

The Oscars 2019. Source: Reaghan Lesh

You get an award, you get an award, EVERYONE GETS AN AWARD. The 2018-2019 award season in Hollywood has come and gone, the Oscars being just last night. There were many awesome things that happened at the show. Marvel Studios’ first-ever win came through from their hit film, Black Panther, which won three out of the seven it was nominated for. Ruth E. Carter became the first African American woman to win Best Costume Design. Hannah Beachler also won for Black Panther for Best Production Design, the first African American woman ever in the category. It was definitely a night to remember for many viewers and filmmakers alike. I was personally living for the mini Captain America moment that Chris Evans brought to us while escorting Regina King onto the stage so she could accept her award. Though it was a great night for many, there were still some moments that had a lot of people wondering “why in the world did that win?”

Real-life Captain America Chris Evans escorting Regina King to accept her award. Source: The Big Picture

I want to start by saying that Bohemian Rhapsody is a pretty decent film. A great story about Freddie Mercury and how the Queen came to be one of the greatest well-known groups of all time. Winning four of the five categories the film was nominated for, BoRhap proved to be an amazing film all around for many people. Except for one award; Best Film Editing.

Being a Digital Media major, I look for details in films all the time. I notice things that either enhance my viewing experience or hurt it. BoRhap is no exception. The editing in the film felt choppy, blocky, and just plain awkward. Remember, this is all opinion. BoRhap could look really awesome to one person and really weird to another. One scene that has been shared all over the internet is the perfect example of why most think “why did this win best editing?”

Did this really win best editing? Source: Lights, Camera, Pod twitter.
Rami Malek accepting his award for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody. Source: Reuters

There is one person that disagrees with me on this, however. Kayla Morton, a senior here at Greenville, is spending her last semester in Los Angeles for a film studies program. It’s an amazing experience that she loves and is helping her find and perfect her calling in film. I spoke to Morton about her thoughts on the Oscars last night, specifically BoRhap and a few others. Morton said, “I was definitely glad that they showed it after all of the drama that happened last week when they weren’t going to show some of the technical awards. Bohemian Rhapsody was definitely a solid pick so there wasn’t too much of an upset there.”

The other category that had a lot of drama and controversy surrounding it was the biggest award of the night, Best Picture. Marvel’s Black Panther was up for this award along with Roma, A Star is Born, BlacKkKlansman, Vice, The Green Book, The Favourite, and Bohemian Rhapsody. The Green Book ended up being the big winner of the night, surprising many people including Morton and myself. Morton spoke out about the winning film:

Green Book was definitely a shock. Everyone I talked to thought it would be Roma. The internet has complaints because it is a story about race but the crew behind it wasn’t very diverse. They also forgot to thank the real life person that the movie was based on in the acceptance speech.”

Considering everything Morton spoke about above and the other nominees for the film, it is very surprising that The Green Book actually won the award. Other nominees such as BlacKkKlansman cover racial topics and handle them with extreme care. Black Panther covered race in the film as well and was extremely popular among the masses. A Star is Born had to be one of the most watched movies when it first came out in theaters, but it did not win Best Picture. Why does this happen? As Morton said, “the academy does as the academy does.”

Green Book producer, Charles Wessler, on stage alongside cast and crew after the film won best picture. Source: Reuters.

Nothing is ever going to truly make everyone happy. Even if a film like Black Panther were to win Best Picture, someone out in the world is going to be upset over it. Spike Lee, the director of BlacKkKlansman, spoke out after Green Book won saying, “the ref made a bad call.” We all like different genres of film and everyone believes that his or her favorite deserves to win. What movie do you think deserved the little golden man award?

Media by Reaghan Lesh.

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