And not just because of the Will Smith slap.
Even before Will Smith walked up on point and slap Chris Rock across the face for make a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith , the2022 Oscars were surreal . It was a show that played with the notion of clip and blank , generate us “ unrecorded ” moments that were definitely not live . At one point , everything had to block up so we could celebrate “ The Flash entering the Speed Force ” inZack Snyder ’s Justice League . Going into the observance , there seemed to be an endeavour from the producers orchestrating it to manufacture every here and now . Instead , the strange and puzzling won out at every round , from the aforementioned assault to the attempts to engender memorable moments by leading us down an uncanny valley wherein John Travolta and Uma Thurman were frozen in time , still doing thatPulp Fictiondance .
By the goal of the dark , anything that was unabashedly sweet and heartfelt felt subsumed by the overall chaos of the proceedings . The plunk for winner , Ariana DeBose andTroy Kotsur , became the first openly queer woman of color and the first deaf man , severally , to win trophies from the Academy . They commit sheer and moving voice communication , but their import were drowned out , as wasCODA ’s ultimate triumphin Best Picture — the first for any cyclosis servicing , and a major moment for indifferent delegacy in papa culture . By that point , delirium had set in among the audience , both at home and , consort to reports , in the room .
Even without the slap , for which Smith hasnow issued an apology , it was peradventure always leap to be theWeird Oscars . In an elbow grease to hurry up the proceedings — which did little good consider the show run well over three hours — producer Will Packer and Academy president David Rubin made the conclusion to present eight awards before the broadcast and then splice footage into the ceremony . The abbreviate spoken communication that made it to breeze were conflate with quote - unquote reaction shots from famous interview members who were very clearly not react to what was being state but something else entirely .
Will Smith accepting his Oscar for Best Actor|ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images
This not - so - manual dexterity of manus added to the general gumption of freak out that would finally take over . Just after Smith stride across the stagecoach to face Rock , a exposure of Nicole Kidman , lip agape , go viral , as if it had been entrance just as the shocking second took place . It was n’t . It happened before the telecast even begin . The photo was upload when Kidman wassupposedly being interview “ live ” on ABC ’s red - rug show , only to become a meme completely divorced from context . It turns out she was just reacting toJessica Chastain walking into the way . ( The title that Kidman was oppose to the Smith - Rock fracas accelerate in the wake of a now - edit tweet from Pop Crave , a renown - news account with near 1 million followers . ) What , in fact , is genuine anymore ?
It was a similar whiz when the ceremony stopped dead in its cut to lionise movies that were voted on via Twitter hashtag and online poll . Both the“Oscars Fan Favorite”and “ Oscars Cheer Moment ” top booty went to Zack Snyder movies , a sign that his considerable flocks of on-line supporter showed up in spades . Sure , “ The Flash entering the Speed Force ” and Netflix’sArmy of the Deadwere beloved tosomepeople , but likely not a significant population of the citizenry who actually care about the Oscars . Instead , it was just yet another example of the internet subtly twisting reality .
Last year ’s Academy Award were also weird . Because of COVID , the ceremony took home not at the Dolby Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard , but at Union Station in business district Los Angeles . Guests sat at table instead of in rows , an idea that set designer David Korins tried to repeat this year . It was one of the reasons that Will Smith could move up the stage and hit Chris Rock so very easy .
This was NOT in response to the slap.|Myung Chun / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Suddenly the project of intimacy became all too intimate . The footage of the moment — which stemmed from a offer that Pinkett Smith , who has the pilus - red condition alopecia , was starring in a sequel to the 1997 movieG.I. Jane , for which Demi Moore magnificently shaved her top dog — has already been analyzed like the Zapruder picture . In the U.S. , the broadcast went understood so curse like “ shit ” and “ bloody ” would n’t be heard by those watching from their couch , but in other parts of the humanity , the whole affair aired in full .
It was an Oscars that seek to buddy up to its spectator , to make them feel like they were part of the show . It instead resulted in something distort and boundlessly uncomfortable . The smack will be the headline for years to come , but it was always bound to be an odd nighttime .
