Oscars so safe Fraser wins for playing gay in ‘Whale,’ but night belonged to ‘Everything’

By JOHN PAUL KING

It must be said that the 95th Annual Academy Awards were doomed to be a letdown before they ever started. After all, last year’s ceremony included a physical assault on a presenter by an A-lister – who then proceeded to win the Best Actor award! Even by rewarding an indie underdog for becoming a populist hit by giving it a record-setting sweep of the major categories, how could this year’s Oscar broadcast hope to top that?

Snarky digs aside, the Academy had already squandered a lot of its good will by announcing a slate of nominees that seemed a step backward in its recent efforts toward diversity. While 2022’s honors included overdue recognition for Asian American talent, the notable shortage of people of color or LGBTQ individuals among the nominees had already led many observers to write off this year’s Oscars as just another backsliding return to the all-too-familiar status quo; and when the broadcast - ny played it so safe that the proceedings seemed dull even in comparison to other Oscar shows – and as anyone who’s ever watched one will certainly attest, that’s saying a lot. It’s almost as if, after a few years of pushing the boundaries, controversy, and conservative backlash over a perceived capitulation to “woke” sensibilities had pressured the Academy into a return to business as usual. and more – including Best Actress for cinema icon Mi- pressive seven of the 11 awards for which it was nomi- among their fellow winners and nominees –are queer-inclusive, if not directly queer-focused. Though other - spective categories, the overall queer presence repreand deeply integrated to be ignored.

In fairness, that assessment feels a little unreasonable, considering that “Everything Everywhere All at Once” – a movie in which the survival of multiple universes hinges in no small part on a mother’s acknowledgment and acceptance of her child’s queer sexuality – had enough critical and popular momentum going into the ceremony to make its claiming of the top prize all but inevitable.

“Women Talking” in favor of an all-male roster of nominees, took the prize for Best Adapted Screenplay nevertheless; Best Actor winner Brendan Fraser, while himself not gay, earned his victory for a deeply humanizing portrayal of a gay man and is a very public survivor of alleged same-gender sexual harassment in the workplace – a reminder that #MeToo is not just a “women’s issue” but a cause encompassing even those in positions most seemingly insulated from such abuses.

Still, in today’s very divided cultural atmosphere, such equivocating overtures toward a more equitable Oscar tokens, convenient to bestow on their non-LGBTQ recip- ients thanks to the more universal appeal of the movies that earned them a place at the table; and while the wins for Yeoh and nostalgic Gen X fan favorite Quan repre-

Pope and Gabrielle Union of “The Inspection” as Best Actor and Supporting Actress, respectively, would have gone a lot further toward proving the Academy’s commitment to true diversity than its loading of the stage with an ostentatiously multi-ethnic roster of presenters – an overcompensation tactic that becomes increasingly obvious every time they deploy it.

As for the ceremony itself, there were some highlights, such as Lady Gaga, with a face freshly scrubbed of her red carpet makeup, passionately delivering a perfor-

Gun: Maverick,” or fellow pop diva Rihanna’s rendition of “Lift Me Up” from “Wakanda Forever” – not to mention the wildly entertaining production number staged to the eventual Best Song winner, “Naatu Naatu” from the Indian blockbuster “RRR.” So, too, were there memorable moments from among the presentations, like the infec- early wins or Fraser’s genuinely choked-up, self-effacing acceptance speech, as well as a few polite-but-pointed barbs and zingers aimed at various low-hanging political targets – and, of course, at Will Smith – along the way. Even so, the atmosphere of the evening was decidedly contained, marked by a frankly uncharacteristic effort have made for an evening relatively free of controversy, it also resulted in an Academy Awards show arguably far less entertaining than some of the notoriously embarrassing debacles they’ve produced in past years.

With all that in mind, it’s easy to see Sunday night’s Oscar ceremony as just another validation for people who loathe the Oscars. Yet while the Academy might seem to be some monolithic organization handing out decrees, its awards are bestowed by a voting body made up of inabout who the winners should be, and many of whom likely feel no obligation toward following whatever cultural or political agendas the organization itself may be hoping to advance. That means that whatever good intentions it proclaims itself to have, the Academy will always be little more than a barometer – and, perhaps, a convenient scapegoat – for an industry that perpetually drags its feet. After all, can we really blame the Academy for failing to recognize queer-centric and queer-friendly content – or content centered on any demographic that isn’t white, male, and heterosexual – when there is still so little of it to choose from among the award-worthy movies the mainstream continues to offer us? that uplift and celebrate outsiders, underdogs, and ordinary people, that emphasize kindness and compassion, that allow for resolution and redemption without deis yes.

There’s no right answer to that question, perhaps, only do better; that’s the only way we’ll ever see wider inclusion on the big screen. In the meantime, it’s important to remember that deciding the “best” of anything is always an entirely subjective exercise, which means that the Oscars are ultimately less about gauging quality than they are about measuring cultural attitudes toward the content – and the way that content is presented – that the movie industry produces. That makes awards like the Oscars an invaluable tool, perhaps, but does that mean it’s worth putting up with all the shallow, facile, tribalistic conversation that inevitably happens around them?

The complete list of winners is below:

Best Picture: “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Michelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Brendan Fraser, “The Whale”

Best Directorerything Everywhere All at Once”

Actress in a Supporting Role “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Actor in a Supporting Rolething Everywhere All at Once”

Best Animated Feature Film: “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”

Best Original Songbose,“Naatu Naatu,” “RRR”

Best Original Screenplay

Scheinert,“Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Adapted Screenplay: Sarah Polley, “Women Talking”

Best International Feature Film: “All Quiet on the Western Front”

Best Documentary Feature Film: “Navalny”

Best Cinematography the Western Front”

Best Visual Effects: “Avatar: The Way of Water”

Best Costume Design: Wakanda Forever”

Best Makeup and Hairstyling:

Best Production Design:

Best Film Editing: Paul Rogers, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”

Best Original Score: Volker Bertelmann,“All Quiet on the Western Front”

Best Live Action Short: “An Irish Goodbye”

Best Animated Short: “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox

Best Documentary Short: “The Elephant Whisperers”

Best Sound: “Top Gun: Maverick”