Oscars 2022

The 94th Academy Awards have wrapped up and although history was made in the cinematographic aspect, the shocking altercation between Will Smith and Chris Rock took the spotlight.

CODA, an independent film starring various deaf actors, won best picture at the Oscars, concluding a historic and odd night. In addition, CODA was the first streaming film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, as well as the adapted screenplay award for Sian Heder, the film's writer-director, and the supporting actor award for Troy Kotsur.

CODA is an abbreviation for Child of Deaf Adults and depicts the tale of a deaf family's hearing daughter who must balance the duties of assisting them in their everyday life with her own dreams to be a singer.

CODA's accomplishment, however, was overshadowed by a dramatic event when Will Smith smacked Chris Rock after the comedian made a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. The comedian's statement that Jada's shaved hairstyle was reminiscent of iconic film character G.I Jane did not appear to impress Will Smith. Since 2018, Jada has been vocal about her hair loss problem, Alopecia, and it is well assumed that she was offended due to her condition.

Will Smith then went on to receive the award for best actor in an emotional speech, apologising to the Academy.

“I know to do what we do, you’ve got to be able to take abuse,” he said. “You gotta be able to have people talk crazy about you. In this business, you gotta be able to have people disrespecting you, and you gotta smile, and you gotta pretend like that’s OK. … I want to apologise to the Academy; I want to apologise to all my fellow nominees.”

The Academy shared the favour throughout the event, with multiple films winning awards and no single movie looking to be the night's favourite.

The Power of the Dog's Jane Campion became the third woman to win best director; Kenneth Branagh won original screenplay for Belfast; Jessica Chastain took home best actress for The Eyes of Tammy Faye. The majority of the non-live categories, such as editing, soundtrack, and production design, went to Dune.

Netflix's New Zealand-shot Western The Power of the Dog led the field with a total of 12 nominations, including best picture, and actor nominations for Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Jesse Plemons, and Kodi Smit-McPhee.

Dune received a total of ten nominations, including best picture, but was overlooked in the directing and acting categories. West Side Story and Belfast both received seven nominations, while King Richard received one.

Bibliography

Keegan, R. (2022, March 28). Oscars 2022 Recap: Winners, Highlights, Big Moments. The Hollywood Reporter; The Hollywood Reporter. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/oscars-2022-recap-winners-highlights-big-moments-1235119596/

McIntosh, S. (2022, March 28). How the feel-good film Coda caused an Oscars upset. BBC News; BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-60825096

Stedman, E. (2022, March 31). Why did Will Smith slap Chris Rock? THAT Oscars 2022 moment explained. GoodtoKnow; GoodtoKnow. https://www.goodto.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/why-will-smith-slap-chris-rock-658245