Every year, the Oscars have long been the premier event of the year for cinema and the actors that star in the best movies of the year. The films nominated are mostly designed to either make hundreds of millions of dollars, further the art of film, or just win as many awards as humanly possible.
The Capital University film club hosted a watch party on the night the Oscars were broadcasted, March 27, 2022.
The event included free Raising Canes, candy, and beverages. It began an hour before the actual award show started to showcase the red carpet and accompanying interviews of the numerous movie stars. The award show was hosted by Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes.
Each person was given a form to predict which movie and actor/actress would win their respective categories.
Savannah Weaver, a second-year nursing major, said, “I just think it’s entertaining to watch…I’ve never sat through the whole thing so, I’d say [I’ve seen the Oscars] the past few years, I’ve watched parts, but not all of it… I really did enjoy seeing some singers perform Encanto.”
After the main award show had started, Troy Kotsur made waves by being the second deaf actor ever to win an academy award, the first being Marlee Matlin in 1987 when she won best actress.
Kotsur won best supporting actor for his role in CODA; he played the father in a family where both parents are deaf and their daughter, Ruby, who is not deaf, has to choose between college and her parents when the family business takes a hit.
Following that, the event went rather smoothly, with the attendees watching “Dune” dominate by winning five Oscars, including Best Production Design, Best Sound, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects and Best Original Score,.
Nick Corso, a fourth-year film major, said, “I’ve been pretty happy [with the winners]. Most of what we’ve seen has had “Dune” as the winner and I like “Dune” a lot. That’s been one of my favorites this year…I’ve never been much of a fan of Amy Schumer…but I will say the bit she did with Josh Brolin and Jason Momoa was kind of funny.”
Then, Chris Rock mosied onto the stage.
In case you have been living under a rock without access to the internet, Rock made a joke about Will Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, to which Will Smith responded by walking onto the stage and slapping Rock.
The watch party was shocked and confused about whether or not it was something of a bit or not. Once Smith started yelling at Rock from his seat, everyone quickly realized it wasn’t a joke.
Soon after, Smith won the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in “King Richard.” Smith played Richard Williams, the father of Serena and Venus Williams, in the drama depicting the women’s rise to tennis superiority.
Since then, Smith has released a statement on his Instagram apologizing for the actions, saying, “I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line, and I was wrong. I am embarrassed, and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness.”
The Oscars have been slipping out of relevance since the COVID-19 pandemic began. This year was the first year ratings started to rise back up. In fact, the 2022 Oscars rang in at about 16.6 million views, which is up 58% from the 2021 broadcast, which only managed 10.5 million views.
