Oscars 2016: The New Black

By Erin Free

“Hey, I saw at least fifteen black people in that clip compilation,” were the first words out of the mouth of Chris Rock as he walked on stage to host the 88th Annual Academy Awards. All morning on Channel 9’s Today, on-site entertainment journalist, Richard Wilkins, had been thinking out loud about whether Rock would address the “elephant in the room” that was the whole #oscarssowhite controversy, namely the groundswell of “outrage” born out of the lack of African-Americans nominated at this year’s awards. Well, Chris Rock didn’t just mention that elephant – he jumped on its back and rode the beast all through the ceremony like that monstrous trunked animal that went nuts in India a couple of days ago.

The question of diversity was tackled head-on by both the Academy (with African-American presenters aplenty, including Lou Gossett Jr., Quincy Jones, Pharrell Williams, Chad Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, and the president of the Academy herself, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who spoke of the organisation’s efforts at being more inclusive) and Chris Rock himself, who made for a very funny and entertaining host. Whether he was visiting a cinema in Compton in a pre-recorded clip (“Bridge Of Spies? I ain’t never heard of that…are you making these films up?” asked one patron when Rock queried her about this year’s Best Film nominees); dropping in hilarious bits of off-the-cuff business (“Of all the girl-on-girl films that I’ve seen this year, Carol was about the third best”); or raising money for his daughter’s Girl Scouts troupe from the assembled millionaires in attendance (“Kiss my ass, Harvey Weinstein,” he bellowed), Rock was on top comic form, and made last year’s host – the hapless Neil Patrick Harris – little more than a sad and distant memory, like the ghost pain from a severed, gangrenous leg that just had to go.

As well as the far better host, the other new and striking thing at this year’s Oscars were the efforts made to chisel down the ceremony’s notoriously baggy running time. When each winner walked up to the stage, a pre-supplied-and-written ticker listing all of their thank you recipients whirled its way across the bottom of the screen, while the achievements of the award presenters (“Jason Segel co-wrote the Oscar nominated The Muppets”) were helpfully included in a graphic, rather than being announced in detail via audio. There were few extended clip scenes; there were no over-the-top musical numbers; and all of the honorary awards (including one to the transcendent Gena Rowlands) were handed over at a previous ceremony. There was almost a hasty, non-nonsense flow to proceedings…although it still ran for a bum-numbing three-and-a-half hours.

There were, however, highlights aplenty. Dave Grohl performed a beautiful acoustic version of The Beatles’ “Blackbird” for the traditional “in memorium” segment (good to see The Love Bug’s Dean Jones getting a special shout-out!), while Lady Gaga’s incredibly emotive rendition of the Oscar nominated “Til It Happens To You” (from the doco, The Hunting Ground, which details the sickening prevalence of rape in US colleges) was singularly powerful, as she was joined on-stage by a large group of survivors – both male and female – of on-campus sexual abuse. Gaga also received a rousing introduction from US Vice President Joe Biden, who scored a standing ovation (!) and surprisingly referred to the dynamic performer as “my friend” (do they really hang out together…and what do they get up to?), and kicked home the hot-button nature of the issue so well encapsulated in the performance.

Louis C.K was undoubtedly the funniest presenter of the ceremony, hilariously pointing out how important the Best Documentary Short Award was. “This award will literally change lives,” he said. “All of the other Oscars tonight are going home to mansions…these people don’t make a dime. This Oscar is going home in a Honda Civic.” He was rivalled by the comedy double acts of Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe (“We’ve got two Oscars between us,” said Gosling straight faced), and Steve Carell and Tina Fey (“Tina’s been drinking,” said Carell. “Here are the nonimees,” the comedienne countered), while “next year’s host”, Kevin Hart (the butt of many of Rock’s jokes), proclaimed himself a “positive guy” and hosed down the whole #oscarssowhite business, but admitted his excitement about how many times the camera would undoubtedly flash to him during the telecast. Sacha Baron Cohen appeared in character as Ali G, and gave props to “the black guy in Star Wars…Darth Vader.”

There were surprises in the awards themselves, with the grotesquely spray-tanned Sylvester Stallone (the closest thing that the Oscars had to a black nominee) losing out on his presumed Best Supporting Actor Oscar to the far less well known Mark Rylance, who was so brilliant in Bridge Of Spies. And after being showered with awards all night, the frontrunners, Mad Max: Fury Road (“Fuckin’ Mad Maxers,” memorably roared Mark Mangini upon winning the gong for Best Sound Editing) and The Revenant, were both pipped for Best Film by the excellent Spotlight, whose finely elucidated themes of child-abuse-and-the-church are particularly relevant in Australia right now. Rousing speeches were made by Best Actor, Leonardo DiCaprio (who got all environmental, much to the appreciation of the partisan crowd), Best Director, Alejandro G. Inarritu (who eloquently spoke of racial equality), and Best Actress, Brie Larson (who espoused the communal nature of filmmaking), while many of their colleagues fell awkward victim to the horribly strident “play-off” music. The biggest surprise, however, was that none of the winners thanked their children, and then jokingly told them to go to bed.

#oscarssowhite? Maybe, but it was also a case of #oscarswereprettydamngoodthisyear too…