The top three trending topics on my Twitter feed right now are ‘Will Smith’, ‘#WillAndChris’ and #whatjusthappened, also related to Will Smith and Chris Rock. If you’ve been on the internet in the past seven hours or so, you know that Will slapped Chris after the latter made an insensitive ‘joke’ about Jada Pinkett Smith. It took over the Internet with people splitting into ‘Team Chris’ and ‘Team Will’ and those who condemned both the actors.
With the noise that one slap generated on social media, several (sometimes subtle) political stances and historic moments at the 94th Academy awards got overshadowed—a great disservice to the artistes, the communities they represent, and the social causes.
What all did the Oscars 2022 talk about, and why?
Solidarity With Ukraine, A Moment of Silence
The Oscars telecast observed a moment of silence in solidarity with Ukraine as Russian forces continue their military operation in the country. A title card read, “We’d like to have a moment of silence to show our support for the people of Ukraine currently facing invasion, conflict and prejudice within their own boundaries.”
Ukrainian-born actor Mila Kunis said, “One cannot help but be in awe of those who find strength to keep fighting through unimaginable darkness.”
The statement condemning the violence in Ukraine is commendable, especially at the Academy Awards—the same awards night where filmmaker Michael Moore was booed off stage and cut-off by music when he spoke out against then President George Bush and the Iraq war.
Actors Jamie Lee Curtis and Yuh-Jung Youn (who is a refugee from North Korea), musician Diane Warren, filmmakers Pedro Almodóvarr and Tyler Perry also wore blue ribbons with the message #WithRefugees. Actor Jason Momoa added a blue and yellow pocket square to his outfit.
‘Don’t Say Gay’ and Queer Representation at the Oscars
It’s no secret that the entertainment industry is still predominantly white and straight which reflects on the nominations for the Oscars every year. Several actors also decide to not publicly talk about their sexuality for fear of it damaging their careers.
In 94 years of the Academy Awards, this is the first time an openly queer Afro-Latina woman has won an Oscar. That is important in itself partly because within the queer nominees too, the representation of people of colour has been further lacking.
And that the historic win happened this year—2022; mere months after Sean Penn, who won as Oscar for his role in Milk told Independent, “I think that men have, in my view, become quite feminised. There are a lot of, I think, cowardly genes that lead to people surrendering their jeans and putting on a skirt.”
Several people had criticised Penn then, for his outdated ideas of masculinity and rigid binaries of gender. In Milk, Penn played the role of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk.
Then there’s Florida and the bill that has been dubbed the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill. The first page of the bill reads, “prohibiting classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in certain grade levels or in a specified manner.”
The bill would not only allow a parent to sue a teacher who they believe is teaching kids in third grade or below about ‘sexual orientation or gender identity’ or older kids in n a manner that is ‘not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate’, it also allows the school to notify parents if they provide support to queer or trans students.
The bill has garnered criticism for its vague nature and for the way it puts queer kids in danger making it harder for them to find support. So, at the Oscars, when presenters Amy Schumer, Regina Hall, and Wanda Sykes said, "We're going to have a great night tonight and for people in Florida, we're going to have a gay night...gay gay gay,” it was important.
Troy Kotsur’s ‘CODA’ Win and More
According to Variety, one-third of Oscar’s 30 ‘Best Actor’ winners portrayed a character with a disability. In contrast, Troy Kotsur is only the second deaf actor to win an Academy Award for CODA following his co-star Marlee Matlin who won the award for ‘Best Actress’ for Children of a Lesser God (making him the first deaf man to win an Oscar).
The only other differently abled actor to ever win an Oscar is World War II veteran Harold Russell (he won two). In an interview to Los Angeles Times, Marlee Matlin had said, “There are an amazing number of disabled actors out there, and not only in the United States. Even though 20% of the population has a disability, 2% of roles in Hollywood are for disabled characters and of that 2%, only 5% are played by people with disabilities. The rest are played by actors without disabilities.”
To put that into context, if there were 100 roles in Hollywood, 2 roles would be for characters with disabilities and of that, 0.1 role(s) would be played by a differently abled actor.
Even With Will Smith, the Conversation is Rarely Right
It would be naïve to assume that an actor punching another actor on stage, at the Oscars no less, would not have people in a tizzy. #whatjusthappened was written on the face of almost every attendee present at the event.
Even so, the conversation around the Will Smith and Chris Rock debacle isn’t of one actor vs the other-it must instead focus on the fact that both actors displayed toxic masculinity on that stage. Chris who, no doubt, made a profit from his documentary Good Hair about the importance of hair in the Black community, stood in front of Hollywood stalwarts and made an ableist quip about Jada Pinkett Smith, who shaved her hair after being diagnosed with alopecia.
Will Smith decided to hit someone, on stage, and even though the LAPD said that the latter chose to not press charges, it’s still a wrong precedent to send out.
Julia S. Lalonde, who in her Twitter thread mentioned that she teaches bystander intervention for a living, wrote, “THEN Will Smith won an Oscar (!!!!) and tried to spin the incident as "I'm just the protector of my family" and literally said "Love will make you do crazy things" which is textbook abuser justifications.”
Was this year’s Oscar a tepid ghost of Oscars past when it comes to spectacle? Maybe. But that doesn’t warrant hailing Will and Chris for making the award show worthwhile because they didn’t- but the people who made history on that stage tonight despite the whole incident…did.
(This is an opinion article and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)
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