On February 26, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (yeah I didn't know the full name before this either) held the 89th Academy Awards ceremony. It's a tradition, and us mortals all get together to watch some of the most beautiful and talented people in the world walk on a carpet that just so happens to be red. They wore beautiful gowns and suits, and we have five-minute conversations on how we feel about them.
And then comes the moment everyone's been waiting for, the best picture award, and by now most of you know what happened next. For those who don't here's a quick rundown: Best Picture was presented by Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway who were given an envelope and the card inside said: Emma Stone "La La Land." So you can understand their confusion because that's the card for Best Actress, and that award had already been announced and Emma Stone had already given her speech and collected her award. You can also understand why they thought that "La La Land" had won the award. It was a nominee and a favorite for the award after all. This is clearly not their fault. So, of course, the cast of "La La Land" swarm the stage and start giving their speeches. They're thanking their mothers and fathers and the academy.
At this point, the security was on stage and something had obviously gone wrong. Until one of the "La La Land" producers, Jordan Horowitz, announces that they lost and that "Moonlight" had won. It was pretty confusing as Horowitz was holding up the correct card saying "Guys, guys, I’m sorry. No. There’s been a mistake, "Moonlight," you guys won Best Picture. This is not a joke.’’
There was so much confusion and both casts were onstage half wondering if they had really lost and half wondering if it was okay that they had won.
In an interview with Elle, Mahershala Ali from "Moonlight" (who'd won best-supporting actor) said that "it was hard to feel joy in that moment." He said that his first reaction when hearing that his movie had won was that he didn't want to take anything from "La La Land." How is that fair?
And it's not like it was actually anyone's fault. It makes sense that Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway would think that "La La Land" had won based on the information they'd been given. They thought it was a mix-up and then found out it was a much bigger mix-up. After all "La La Land" was a nominee and a favorite for the award. This isn't "La La Land"'s fault, they thought they had won the award and one of their own producers was the one to announce that they'd lost to "Moonlight." The director of "Moonlight," Barry Jenkins, while talking to Elle, made sure the interviewer knew the cast of "La La Land" was so gracious when handing over the award. When Horowitz made the impromptu presentation he said ‘‘I’m going to be really proud to hand this to my friends from "Moonlight."
Emma Stone did say she had her Best Actress Card in her hand when the mix-up happened so there were two envelopes for that award, and when Horowitz announced who actually won he had the appropriate "Moonlight" card, so it's not as though there wasn't a "Moonlight" card.
Jenkins also said that he wanted to see the card, he wanted to know exactly what had happened, which makes sense, and Beatty wouldn't let anyone see the card until Jenkins saw it first. Emma Stone had nothing but praise towards "Moonlight" after the fiasco. It really seems like everyone involved in this did their very best to give "Moonlight" the award and put their minds at rest.
"Moonlight" is the first LGBT-centered movie to win Best Picture and the one of the few in recent history to win with a black protagonist. It's truly historic. And it didn't get to have its moment. Jenkins didn't get to give his speech, his shared interviews with the director of "La La Land" and the Variety cover, which is traditionally a picture of the director of the best picture, was a picture of both "Moonlight" and "La La Land" directors. Now, Jenkins has not said that any of this, sharing the spotlight, bothered him and it's possible that it doesn't. He's did say "It's messy but it's kind of gorgeous." and ‘‘It made a very special feeling even more special, but not in the way I expected.’’ So maybe really none of this gets to him.
But "Moonlight"'s win will always be tied to "La La Land" not winning.
Even though everyone's been really good sports about this, Jenkins commenting to Vanity Fair that it's "heartbreaking" that the fiasco became the defining moment of the night, upset that it overshadowed films that weren't "La La Land" or "Moonlight."
PricewaterhouseCoopers, the accounting firm that adds up all the votes for the Oscars, has released an
As lame as it sounds everyone makes mistakes and to label someone as the person who messed up the 2017 Oscars when no one can claim to have never made a mistake at work. We're just lucky our job doesn't involve calculating, transporting, delivering, organizing, or presenting the Oscars.
