An appeal to the Academy (and the wonder of Lady Gaga)
Wednesday, March 30, 2022 at 8:06PM 
The 94th Academy Awards were marked by a scene that will surely live in infamy, one of those immortal Oscar moments destined to overshadow everything else about the ceremony, its winners, and the overall season. Whatever one might think about it, AMPAS wasn't to blame for it. However, there's no way to deny their responsibility for the night's other failings. Indeed, The Slap wasn't the reason I'd call the 94th Academy Awards the worst ceremony of my lifetime. That would be its overall contempt for the art of the movies. This came through in the ceremony in ways that Nathaniel and Eric have already written about.
And yet, hope is everlasting. The 94th Academy Awards ended on a positive note that might point us towards a better future, a return to form...
The Academy's new contempt for movies is Oscar poison, but there is an antidote. You can't lovingly rib something you don't love which is why the jokes about movies and artists on Sunday felt contemptuous. In better Oscar times, Whoopi could invoke Ingmar Bergman's name for a joke about depressing cinema. Nowadays, the ceremony's producers and its hosts prefer to consider their audience an uncultured mass of movie-hating folks who, for some unknowable reason, are spending their night watching the Oscars.
But speaking of Whoopi Goldberg, she's the gold standard for host, and that stems from one crucial fact. Whoopi loves both the movies and the Oscars, a fact she never concealed under the guise of ironic coolness. Most importantly, she talked as if the audience at home shared that sentiment. If the best parody comes from a place of deep affection, so do the best Oscar night jokes. The self-hating state of the present Academy only serves to produce joyless, sour presentations that bore everyone to tears.
But at the night's end, we caught a glimpse at who could be a worthy successor to Whoopi and the ultimate Oscar host...
Presenting Best Picture alongside Liza Minnelli, Lady Gaga showed incredible grace, genuine care for the award she was giving, and the living legend in her company. For all that the Oscar-obsessed community has made fun of the star's delirious best Actress campaign, it's undeniable that she loves the movies and everything for which the Academy is meant to stand. Even if earnest to a fault, Gaga is a deep well of sincerity, an antithesis to the snide self-hatred AMPAS has come to embody. Better yet, she's an über-referential master entertainer, gifted with boundless charisma and the voice of an angel.
She could be the savior the Academy so ardently needs if only ABC were brave enough to hire her and produce an Oscar ceremony guided by the tenet of movie love rather than contempt. So, enough with the bullshit, please hire Gaga and stop hating yourself, AMPAS!
Reader Comments (14)
as liza herself might say: "what a TERRIFIC idea"
Lady Gaga has respect for those who came before. That's what I like about her and my mother is a fan of Lady Gaga.
GaGa like Liza is showbiz and a class act,I thought she should have been nominated over at least 2 of the turns up for Best Actress.
Let's leave meaness to social media and make the Oscars a warm fun place where for a few hours it's nothing but fun and celebration of film past and present,you need to remeber your legacy.
Clean up the In Memoriam section,every year it's a few second clips,think of something,figure it out,you have a whole year.
Where was the Sidney Poitier tribute,all the barriers that great actor broke down and a few seconds is all he got,such a shame.
Some thoughts: best picture lineup had some great movies but whitout any masterpiece this year. Surely The Power of the Dog or Licorice Pizza was way way better than CODA. But at the end of the day I think that CODA isn't a bad choice. It's an indipendent movie that probably had more shooting difficulties than an high budget movie like Dune, it's a radious and positive movie with an unusual cast. It wasn't the best picture but was the right choice for a best picture Oscar. The Power of the Dog at least won best directing, one of the most important awards and the one that deserved the most. And Dune took all the techinical awards that deserved.
The only award that left me very disappointed is best actress. I love Chastain and she gave some wonderful performances. But The eyes of Tammy Brown is one of the ugliest movie I've ever seen for me. At least it deserved some razzies nominations for picture and screenplay
Perhaps it’s just a sign of the times, but it seems like part of the identity crisis the Academy is suffering at the moment is this that they’re so afraid of being thought of as elitists that the self-loathing you alluded to is manifesting as this transparently fake brand of populism that cinephiles and Oscar fanatics rightly see as a betrayal of their principles and that the mainstream public they’re so desperate to court doesn’t believe one iota. The state of movies is such that it’s virtually impossible to have it both ways at the moment, because the bar for what gets accused of being “elitist” has been lowered to the point that there’s really nothing they could do short of filling the Best Picture category with superhero movies that would prevent that perception from prevailing. They need to just embrace who they are, their perception among people who never cared about them in the first place be damned.
I just don't think the Academy can pull itself out of this identity crisis. Look at videos from 2002 (the first Oscar ceremony I remember watching) and the whole thing is so effortlessly tasteful and elevated. The room is set up like a theater, not a nightclub. Jessica Chastain took SIX steps from her seat to the microphone to accept her Oscar on the same level where she and everyone else was sitting—who thought that would be a magical moment?
The ceremony has lost what it had and I don't think the Academy wants it back. I have no hope at all for the future of the Oscars.
Gaga would be a fine host (although I think you need some humor in the role so maybe pair her with a comic foil). I think there is a bigger issue though. Look at this list:
Clint Eastwood, Steven Spielberg, Anjelica Huston, Mel Gibson, Kevin Spacey, Brad Pitt, Jack Nicholson, Tommy Lee Jones, Russell Crowe, Julianne Moore, Edward Norton, Keanu Reeves, Charlize Theron, Antonio Banderas, Penelope Cruz, Angela Bassett, Diane Keaton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Salma Hayek, Chow Yun-Fat, Jane Fonda, Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Cher, Samuel L. Jackson, Cate Blanchett, Jude Law, Morgan Freeman, Winona Ryder, Heather Graham, Mike Myers, Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, Ashley Judd, Lucy Liu
Wow. MOVIE STARS. All those stars were PRESENTERS at the 72nd Oscars in 2000. Only a couple of those had nominated films (e.g. Spacey, Crowe, Moore, Ryder, Law). That excludes the previous year acting winners (Paltrow, Benigni, Dench, Coburn) and a handful of younger stars that never made the leap. It also doesn't include nominated stars like Tom Cruise, Sean Penn, Denzel, Meryl, Annette Bening, Angelina Jolie, and Michael Caine.
Compare to: Liza Minnelli, Lady Gaga, John Travolta, Sam Jackson, Uma Thurman, Kevin Costner, Zoe Kravitz, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bill Murray, Tyler Perry, Rami Malek, Shawn Mendes, Tracee Ellis Ross, Chris Rock, JK Simmons, Elliot Page, Jennifer Garner, John Leguizamo, Lupita Nyong'o, Mila Kunis, Tiffany Haddish, Simu Liu, Stephanie Beatriz, Jacob Elordi, Rachel Zegler, Rosie Perez, Woody Harrelson, Wesley Snipes, Josh Brolin, Jason Momoa
No disrespect to anyone but there is no comparison! Bring back the movie stars! It's supposed to be Hollywood's biggest night but the absence of stars really speaks louder than anything.
Claudio -- Gaga is a brilliant hosting idea that i never would have thought of so well done. Agree with Peter though that she might need the ballast of a comic performer... but again to your point. that comic performer MUST love movies and the Oscar and all things showbiz/Hollywood. I dont understand why these aren't mandatory requirements of the job. we've suffered through so many hosts who dont care about movies now. Bring back Whoopi or Hugh or ANYONE who is naturally funny and who really loved Hollywood.
Love the idea of Gaga as a host--she can do it all. And her charisma is through the roof. Love it.
Edwin--perfectly said.
@Peter - I couldn't agree with you more. I have found myself wondering, the past few years, where are the "veterans"? For example, Meryl and Jack Nicholson, just to name 2. It seems the veteran stars only attend if they're nominated. Maybe they need a bit of sweet talk.
Why do they constantly choose hosts who flaunt their ignorance of the nominated movies and actually seem quite proud of it?
I love Gaga and would be thrilled to see her host. That said, my fantasy Oscar host for a few years now has been Billy Eichner. He loves show business and is as knowledgeable as any of us Oscar superfans here at TFE, plus he's hilarious.
I once thought they wouldn't ask him because he isn't famous enough, but I'm pretty sure he's at least as famous as Regina Hall. And just maybe his forthcoming rom-com, Bros, will make him a big star. They should give him a shot.
Gaga and Crystal or Martin.
Or Eichner?
I missed movie stars too. I appreciate all the diversity that goes into picking presenters these days but more major stars are needed too.
I was thinking of the Ellen selfie year and how many stars were there but then I remembered they were all nominees!! Julia Meryl J Law Bradley Amy Brad Pitt Leo Cate Sandra etc etc
Gaga would kill it, hopefully, if allowed to. They'd have to resign themselves to having a non-comedy host, which I would worry would turn their presenters into bad joke recepticals for the writers. But I'd still be down for it.