Oscar Awards: the 3 triumphs of CODA, the Latin presence and the slap of Will Smith

The reasons why the 94th edition of the Oscars will be remembered

An unforeseen event is the reason why this 94th edition of the Oscar Awards will be remembered: the moment when Will Smith stopped laughing at Chris Rock’s jokes to unexpectedly approach the stage and slap him in the middle of the live broadcast. Then, of little consequence was Troy Kotsur, the deaf actor in CODA , taking the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (becoming the second deaf actor to receive a statuette after Marlee Matlin, his co-star, won it in 1987). Nor did Jane Campion win her second Best Directing award for The Power of the Dog .

The outburst was one of the few surprises of the night: the most relevant categories saw the favorites triumph: Jessica Chastain was chosen Best Actress for The Eyes of Tammy Faye and Smith himself for Best Actor for Rey Richard , biopic in which he played the father of sisters Venus and Serena Williams. So when it was her turn to go onstage to greet him, Smith tearfully expressed that he wanted to be “a vessel for love.” “I am called in my life to love people and protect people,” he said. “Art imitates life. I look like the crazy father as they said of Richard Williams. But love will make you do crazy things. And after the whole world — or at least the part that cared to tune in to the Oscars — watched him lambast Rock (and his unfortunate, offensive joke about Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett’s alopecia), he confessed that her tears had nothing to do with winning an award: “It’s about being able to enlighten all people.” “Thanks. I hope the Academy invites me again”, he finished by saying

The organization responded with a somewhat vague tweet with unrelated concepts, but condemning the fact: “The Academy does not condone violence in any form,” it said, and then: “Tonight we are delighted to celebrate our winners of the 94th edition of Academy Award winners who deserve this moment of recognition from their peers and moviegoers around the world.” That nobody ruins the party, seemed to read between the lines.

Let the show continue. The Academy’s plan was to organize a party thinking of raising the catastrophic ratingfrom previous years (the last edition was seen by 10.4 million viewers, against 55 million in 1998). His innovative proposal consisted of putting three female comedians at the helm, perhaps emulating the duo of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler in more than one Golden Globes gala. “They hired three women because it was cheaper than paying them to a single man”, said Amy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes sarcastically in the initial monologue, and they continued with some little updated and even outdated interventions. Schumer joked about her (and Jennifer Lawrence’s) weight, her supposed dependence on drugs and alcohol (“Being at home is the best, right? I have my pills there”, “My plan is to be totally present until I pass out”) and about the well-known age difference that Leonardo DiCaprio usually has with his partners (“He has done so much to fight for climate change to have a cleaner planet … for his girlfriends” ). Meanwhile, Hall declared that he was looking for a partner and called the most eligible singles behind the scenes with the excuse of randomly testing them for Covid. He also frisked some of them on stage with an insistence that made him uncomfortable.

Between award and award, the Academy decided to liven up the show with clips of anniversaries of films such as The Godfather , which turned 50 years old; Juno , who celebrated 15; and of the James Bond sagas, which have already turned 60, presented by actors or directors linked to the projects.

Latinos everywhere. Before the gala turned to Will Smith, the Latino presence was felt at the Dolby Theater, with one of the first awards of the night, Best Supporting Actress, given to Ariana DeBose, daughter of Puerto Ricans, “Afro-Latina ”, according to his own definition, for his interpretation in Love without barriers . Apparently, the Academy realized the mistake of forgetting to invite the protagonist of that film, Rachel Zegler, and decided to correct her role by also putting her on stage to present the award for Best Visual Effects. “Six days ago I wouldn’t have believed she would be here,” she joked.

The triumph of Encanto —and his ode to Colombia— as Best Animated Film; and the musical numbers of two themes from the film: Dos oruguitas , nominated for Best Song, with a warm performance by Sebastián Yatra; and We Don’t Talk About Bruno , with voices from the film in addition to Megan Thee Stallion, Luis Fonsi and Becky G, filled the stage and even the aisles between the seats with colorful costumes and words in Spanish.

However, hours later, even days later, all that is being talked about is Will Smith. But not from the long-awaited award (this is his third nomination as an actor). There is no talk of talent or historical conquests. There is talk of Team Will Smith and Team Chris Rock, sides are taken. “At your highest, be careful. That’s when the devil comes for you,” Denzel Washington told Smith, as he recounted in his acceptance speech. Maybe he should have listened.