The Oscars Got What It Wanted

The Academy got exactly what they wanted last night. And no, it wasn’t CODA winning best picture. The Academy and ABC Producers were gifted with something more valuable than one hundred heartfelt Troy Kotsur speeches- a viral moment. A moment so authentically shocking that people in the Dolby Theater were confused about how to react. A moment so bewildering that Oscar viewers took to social media to debate whether or not it was real or staged.

If you’re reading this, you are probably familiar with the referenced incident. If not, Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Smith. Will Smith got upset, walked on stage unannounced and slapped Chris Rock in the face. Then he walked back and screamed “keep my wife’s name out of your fucking mouth” twice. 

Will Smith smacking the lights out of Chris Rock

Critics and cultural commentators will probably take the next week or so to try out the dumbest possible takes. The Academy itself will respond and probably inspire some more people to fire off dumb takes. And sooner or later, another viral moment will come along and people will remember this moment and nothing else about the 2022 Oscars. 

In my last post, I outlined the Academy and ABC’s belabored efforts to make the Oscars a more exciting show. They decided to sideline 8 technical awards, reintroduce hosts, include populist awards, and invite DJ Khaled and Shaun White to present awards. They got an incredibly intriguing show but not for the reasons they thought they would. In other words, their efforts failed. What did not fail is the Oscar’s almost magnetic ability to induce the most perplexing behavior out of its participants. It’s almost as if Hollywood is full of crazy people and when you put them in a room together for a night, they will do crazy things. The producers did absolutely nothing to create a fun telecast. It was the authentic and real life viral moment that made it exciting. Will Smith decking Chris Rock was not planned or staged which is why it didn’t feel like the rest of the show- cringey, odd, and forced. It felt real. That’s all people want to watch. They want to watch real things that are also shocking. You’d think a bunch of professional filmmakers and storytellers would understand that by now. So instead of the forced bits and odd jokes, what actually created an interesting show was the crazy moment that occurred naturally.

It’s too bad that the incident involved assault. And it’s too bad that the incident was then justified as an act of “protection,” as Will Smith gaslighted the audience during a 6 minute acceptance speech. 

Is it too bad though? Will Packer and the other producers of the Oscars probably don’t think so. Why would they? Chris Rock may have gotten smacked on live television but they got what they wanted! They got a moment. 

This year’s Oscars were never going to be about movies. That’s because movies exist in a larger cultural environment. And this year, that culture did not care about the movies that were nominated. So the show wasn’t going to succeed because of a show-stopping Jane Campion speech celebrating a movie many people didn’t see and many people didn’t enjoy. For this year’s telecast to succeed as a cultural product, it needed to feature a cultural moment. And boy did it deliver!

Now the second most insane Oscars moment of the 21st century

Do you remember who won Best Actress in the 2014 Oscars? Probably not. But I bet you do remember John Travolta introducing Adele Dazeem. And in 8 years, when you’re sitting at your local bar’s trivia night and they ask who won Best Actress at the 2022 Oscars, I won’t blame you for not remembering Jessica Chastain’s performance in The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Audiences won’t remember tonight because of CODA or The Power of the Dog or any other movie for that matter. People will remember tonight as the Oscars where Will Smith went bonkers. And in doing so, the producers of the Oscars will be rewarded for Will Smith going bonkers. 

In the market of cultural artifacts, we value moments. That’s because when moments happen, people talk about those moments, investors get excited, and then stock prices go up, or however that works. The moments that are most “successful,” however, are almost never scripted. But because they aren’t scripted, they have the potential to spiral out of control and into the realm of discomfort. The events of last night definitely made some people uncomfortable. I hope the next big Oscars moment doesn’t?  But it probably will. In the market of cultural moments, unhinged acts of profound drama are rewarded. The Oscars would’ve been an absolute failure if Will Smith didn’t slap Chris Rock. But he did. I don’t think that makes the Oscars successful, but it does make them relevant. And that’s the only thing that matters. For better or for worse. 

Probably for worse.