When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for the 87th annual Academy Awards last month, everyone outside the Academy was quick to point out that it was the straightest, whitest, male-est nomination list in decades. Zero people of color were nominated for acting Oscars; zero women were nominated for directing Oscars; and zero women were nominated for writing Oscars.
Not cool, Academy. Not cool.
After some debate, we’ve decided to live blog tonight’s main event. Neil Patrick Harris is hosting. Tegan and Sara are performing. Selma is nominated for Best Picture. And we’re hoping to see more of that feminist and racial real talk that wowed us at the Golden Globes in January. But before we get drunk on booze and whatever swoony thing comes out of Meryl Streep‘s mouth, let’s take a peek at some of the best social commentary about the Oscars from around the wide internet.
Selma and the American-ness of the Academy
By Iquo B. Essien for Gawker
Perhaps that is true, but what concerns me is what it says about the hope for films by people who look like me, who congeal into an indistinguishable brown swill at the bottom of the mainstream cup—simply because whiteness assumes a kind of individualized identity that rises above the homogenized, monolithic other into which the rest of us fall.
Marginal Returns
By Brandon Harris for The New Inquiry
Both movies, Selma and Top Five, were released by a studio, Paramount, that regularly brought you its neutered but lively visions of Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy’s blackness for much of the late ‘70s through the early ‘90s. Those times are past; these two were the only movies Paramount released that had black subject matter all year in 2014. Gina Prince-Bythewood’s well-regarded Beyond the Lights was the only widely distributed non-genre black film distributed by American studios, other than the latest embarrassments from Tyler Perry and Kevin Hart.
75 Years Ago, Hattie McDaniel Made History By Winning An Oscar
By The Root Staff for The Root
Seventy-five years ago, Hattie McDaniel accepted the Academy Award for best supporting actress for her role as Mammy in the civil war epic Gone With the Wind, becoming the first African American to win the prestigious prize. It was fitting that the award was handed out on a Leap Day, Feb. 29, 1940; the win was a momentous leap forward for African Americans in film. Since McDaniel won the award, 15 African-American actors have also won the golden statuette. Here are five things you should know about the trailblazing actress.
One in 10 didn’t see Selma – and more we’ve learned about Academy members
By Ben Beaumont-Thomas for The Guardian
Of the voters they polled, 10% of them hadn’t seen Selma, potentially further damaging its chances. The most-seen film is Birdman, with only 2% of voters missing it, while a pretty sizeable 7% missed The Theory of Everything and Whiplash. If they can’t see the biggest critical hits of the year, it hardly bodes well for the foreign and short film categories. It’s worth underlining that this isn’t because films were released late or in limited runs – voters get sent the films on DVD.
Oscars Voters’ Unsurprising Confessions: We Are Crazy and Racist
By Jordan Sargent on Defamer
In these two passages, you may recognize several strands of very familiar racism: a (presumably) white person loudly proclaiming that they don’t see race, a plea for black people to not be so uppity and, naturally, “we have a black friend.” The tonal implication that the white people who vote for the movie awards are the truly prosecuted in this equation is, of course, crazy, but it’s a sad, wheezing sort of crazy.
7:00 Welp, I turned on the TV just as Lupita Nyong’o was making her way down the red carpet. So far, so flawless.
when you're not even nominated for an oscar this year but you already won pic.twitter.com/7OjNMhP2Zb
— Jazmine Hughes (@jazzedloon) February 23, 2015
7:11 Speaking of flawless. I love when Oprah posts to Instagram, especially when you can see inside her house. It’s like, “Oh, me too, Oprah! I have walls too! Best friend samesies, practically!” (Where is Gail?)
7:20 Ryan Seacrest definitely just told Kerry Washington that Ellen is texting him to try to get him to get her to spill Scandal secrets because Portia won’t tell her anything. Shonda Rhimes has more secrets that A on Pretty Little Liars, man.
7:30 Stacy, my film editor girlfriend, just said to me, “Ugh, is there anything more awkward than a red carpet show? If we ever have to go to the Oscars, let’s get there at the last minute, pre-drunk.” Love of my life, that girl.
7:35 Wait, for real?
According to Academy rules, Oscar winners (or their heirs) can't sell their statue until they first offer it to the Academy for $1.
— Mental Floss (@mental_floss) February 23, 2015
7:42 I’ll bet you ten dollars there’s already a GIF on Tumblr of Cumberbatch saying “squishy” on Tumblr that has been live blogged one million times.
7:50 And the award for Least Impressed With The Oscars Red Carpet goes to…
8:00 “Oscar voters love movies about show business.”
8:03 Oh! Hey, cuties!
welp, this is adorable. pic.twitter.com/o6lurA3u7k
— BuzzFeed Celeb (@BuzzFeedCeleb) February 23, 2015
8:11 20 minutes until the Oscars! 40 minutes until the pulled pork and black bean quesadilla I ordered gets here! I’ll bet the second thing is better!
8:17 Jennifer Aniston picks up Emma Stone and carries her away from this awkwardness! A real American hero!
8:30 All right, let’s get this show on the road, and by “show” I mean “Tegan and Sara concert.”
What are we wearing!? Tegan is in @The_Kooples and @barbara_bui. Sara is in @PublicSchoolNYC and @colehaan. #Oscars pic.twitter.com/AYPaR3156g
— Tegan and Sara (@teganandsara) February 23, 2015
8:30 I hope Anna Kendrick stays on stage and just launches Jimmy Choos all night.
8:40 JK Simmons wins for Best Supporting Actor for Whiplash and speaks for ten minutes about the cause closest to his heart: “call, don’t text your parents.” Okay.
8:45 My girlfriend: “Octavia Spencer deserves so much better than this terrible joke that will never end.” And also Red Band Society. She deserved better than that too.
8:50 Talk about fortuitous! The food arrived just when I needed a bathroom break!
9:00 Grand Budapest Hotel wins for Best Costume Design and Best Makeup and Hair, which is correct, I think! They made Lord Voldemort look like a regular old hotel employee! Or, well, like a Williamsbug’s fever dream of a hotel employee!
9:10 Ida wins for Best Foreign Film, even though Nicole Kidman says movies are about humans and not language? I don’t know. Oh! The director defeats the playoff for the first time in history by thanking his dead wife right as the music almost shut him down! And then he thanks his kids for being alive! My goodness!
9:15 My quesadilla was delicious, thank you for asking.
9:16 Michael Keaton flat chewing the shit out of some bubblegum.
9:17 TEGAN AND SARA TIME!!!!!!!
TEGAN. (and Sara)
— Adrian White (@adrianwhiteTX) February 23, 2015
9:22
9:27 The Phone Call wins for Best Live Action Short and Kerry Washington wipes some stuff off one of the directors’ faces before he makes a fool of himself on national TV because she has a hard time turning off Olivia Pope sometimes probably.
9:28 Crisis Hotline wins Best Short Subject Documentary. The director accepts on behalf of her son who committed suicide earlier this year. :(
(Everyone’s sticking it to the play-off music tonight.)
9:35 Gwyneth Paltrow introduces Tim McGraw. Remember that time when she said she’d rather die than feed her kid a Cuo-O-Soup? Remember when she said “Sometimes Harvey Weinstein will let me use the Miramax jet if I’m opening a supermarket for him”? What a world.
9:40 By the way, earlier on the red carpet, one of the interviewers hit on Tim McGraw and he literally said, “I’m married to Faith Hill, so.”
9:40 FOUND ‘EM!
9:45 Did y’all just see Liz Feldman?
9:50 FOUND SOME MORE.
(Whiplash won a sound thing, I think while I was on Tumblr digging up these treasures.)
9:50 My girlfriend: “YESSSSS MORE WHITE MEN WIN TECHNICAL AWAAAARDS!”
(The award in question is Sound Editing and it’s American Sniper.)
9:51 Oh good, Jared Leto is here. Tell us more about how you singlehandedly cured the world of transmisogyny, Jared.
9:54 Patricia Arquette wins Best Supporting Actress for Boyhood. (Riese really hated Boyhood.) (I liked it a lot.) (But I also saw it at a theater where they serve beer and nachos nonstop through the whole movie.)
9:56 Sweet Lord! Patricia Arquette started talking about wage equality and Meryl Streep and J. Lo just about came out of their seats! Meryl was legit doing PREACH! PREACH! YASSS! WOORRRKK! hands. (BRB, Tumblr.)
10:00 Record time, Tumblr!
10:04 Here’s your new Facebook cover photo.
10:06 Interstellar wins for Best Visual Effects.
10:07 Feast wins for Best Animated Short! I’ve never even heard of it but it looks like it’s just a cartoon about an adorable puppy eating everything! I want to watch it right now!
10:11 Big Hero 6 wins for Best Animated Film. It was very good. Actually, everything in this category was very good. SO WAS THE LEGO MOVIE.
10:16
10:23 Grand Budapest Hotel wins for Production Design. Sadly, NPH isn’t winning much of anything. I hope he doesn’t turn on the internet tomorrow.
10:25 Idris Elba and Jessica Chastain — who my girlfriend just referred to as “truly, truly wonderful people, in terms of looks” — present the Oscar for Best Cinematography to the dude from Birdman who also won last year for Gravity.
10:30 Tweet of the night.
It was then that I carried you. pic.twitter.com/tmNbc30lSg
— Mark Ennis (@MarkEnnis) February 23, 2015
10:35 In Memoriam. Seeing Maya Angelou’s name was a punch in the soul all over again. Jennifer Hudson is singing sad, powerful things. How come she stopped making movies?
10:43 Tom Cross wins the Best Editing for Whiplash. My girlfriend does not approve.
Can Boyhood please win Film Editing so I can see ONE WOMAN win a "technical" award? (Film editing is storyteling, FYI.)
— Stacy (@LaikaSpaceDog) February 23, 2015
10:50 Oh, dear. The TelePrompter goes out when Terrence Howard is trying to talk about some Best Picture nominees and so he tries to ad-lib and then breaks down and starts crying. But like acting-crying? It is … uncomfortable.
10:51 Citizenfour wins for Best Documentary.
10:52 Meryl and Patricia Arquette are making out backstage, apparently.
Patricia Arquette on Meryl Streep’s reaction: “I hugged her afterwards! She’s the queen, the patron saint of all actresses.”
— OscarInterviews (@OscarInterviews) February 23, 2015
10:55 Truth, Mey. Truth. :(
10:57 Octavia Spencer introduces John Legend and Common, who are performing “Glory” from Selma, for which they won a Golden Globe. Damn, man. Super powerful performance. Standing ovation.
11:00 NPH will not let us forget that lockbox. Hopefully, Octavia has escaped his clutches now that she made it up to the stage.
11:06 “Glory” wins for Best Song! John Legend and Common are dropping truth bombs all over the place and the music people aren’t even hinting at playing them off: “To the people that are marching with our song, we see you, we love you and march on.”
11:13 Sound of Music tribute from some reason. I don’t know why. But I don’t care because JULIE ANDREWS. Guys. GUYS. Lady Gaga. Julie Andrews. I … I’m going to need a minute, I’m sorry. Live blog pause.
11:23 So what happened was Lady Gaga came onto do a Sound of Music tribute and my girlfriend was like, “Baby, your face. Are you about to throw up?” Because Julie Andrews is my deity, see, but then Gaga was so amazing she gave me goosebumps in my brain. And then! Julie Andrews came out and hugged her and said, “My dear, Lady Gaga…” It was all very surprising and moving!
11:25 Alexandre Desplat wins Original Score for Grand Budapest Hotel.
11:27
Losing an Oscar in a category that Julie Andrews presents is as good as winning an Oscar in any other category
— Seth Meyers (@sethmeyers) February 23, 2015
11:30 Birdman wins for Best Original Screenplay.
11:34 The Imitation Game wins for Best Adapted Screenplay (“Stay weird; stay different” is Graham Moore’s inspiring It Gets Better message!) and Oprah Oprahs the announcement! Ha! Hahaha! THE IMITATION GAAAAAAAAME!
11:43 Alejandro G. Inarritu wins Best Director for Birdman and “follows up an It Gets Better speech by talking about his balls.” (I’m just quoting everything that comes out of my girlfriend’s mouth as I scour Tumblr for more Julie Andrews photos, at this point.)
11:49 Like this one.
11:51 AWW. YOU GUYS.
11:52 Eddie Redmayne wins Best Actor for The Theory of Everything and delivers a charming acceptance speech.
Tell me more about Eddie Redmayne's wife?
— Brittani Nichols (@BisHilarious) February 23, 2015
11:53 Ugh. Here comes my sworn enemy Matthew McConaughey to present for Best Actress.
11:57 Julianne Moore finally wins her Oscar! YAY!
12:01 I never thought I’d say this, but: NPH, STAAAAAAHP.
12:04 Birdman wins for Best Picture.
Whoo boy, y’all. That was a long night. Thank you for sticking around until the end. Sweet dreams, sweet kittens.
My girlfriend and I are watching the red carpet right now and the commentary is so stupid! These questions aren’t even questions, and they just called Melanie Griffith her daughter’s “best accessory.”
Red carpet interviews are increasingly become a method of torture for both the people being interviewed and the people watching at home!
You do so much for us, Hogan.
It’s because I love you!
Have fun Oscar-ing! I’m at work until after 11. :/
It’ll run late! Come by when you’re done!
I’m just hoping that they make John Travolta present the Best Actor category so he has to announce Benedict Cumberbatch.
RT
TEGAN AND SARA EVERYTHING IS AWESOME.
OH MY GOD.
I’m just SO PROUD of how far they’ve come. Gahhhh.
Tegan’s outfit is everything and awesome. Sara looks a little bit like Wednesday Addams but I’m not complaining.
This affirms my shopping choices and my #allblackeverything wardrobe.
Tegan and Sara have to be the tiniest, cutest most adorable lesbians I ever seen not named Ellen Page.
I’m loving Lady Gaga’s Myrtle Snow gloves!
Yes!
Anna Kendrick! Oh *swoon*
Liam Neeson reminds me of a less unattractive Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold
Liam Neeson reminds me I didn’t watch Love Actually this Christmas! :(
I don’t think I’ve ever watched Love Actually
What do they do at the show when we lowly folks at home get the awkward screen and music?
Drink, probably.
According to Neil Gaiman, everybody goes to bar and schmoozes: http://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/mar/25/neil-gaiman-oscars-coraline
Oops *the* bars
Is Channing Tatum confirmed bisexual? Or is that just a rumor?
Pretty sure it’s just a rumor (at this point).
:(
I debated giving up and watching Downton Abbey and just reading this because 10/10 is better than the actual Oscars but then I realized I still needed to finish my homework
Well, I’ll be here when you’re done, I’m sure!
I decided to watch and then tune out and do my homework when I get bored
I’m fully committed to referring to this year’s awards as the WASPscars. Seems more accurate.
Ha! WASPscars!
I had been calling them The White Excellence Awards but that is a much better title. WASPscars it is.
Dude, the music does not mean hurry up, it means stop! Get off the stage!
Yes!!
Everything Is Awesome!!! and by that I mean Tegan and Sara and that whole performance was awesome
I want GIFs and I want them now!
I saw the animated short films on Valentine’s day with a friend (we were too tired from school to stay for the live action). My vote is for Feast or The Dam Keeper.
I can’t stop watching that oprah giff
I wish I could frame it in my bedroom like a wizard picture.
OMG White Guys, stahp with the super sized speeches!
New Rule: if your speech gets to the end of the music, your award is defaulted to the runner up.
Or we can just cut their mikes.
Ooh I like that!
HOLLYWOOD HUNGER GAMES.
What is this Jared Leto speech I keep hearing about but can never find? I want to rage too!
It’s for when he won for Dallas Buyers Club last year. It was so gross.
Anyone else feel like they cut to commercial REAL quick when Patricia mentioned wage equality?
Also Neil’s joke RIGHT AFTER the director of Crisis Hotline mentioned how we must talk about suicide.
I feel like everything somewhat political or indicative of collective consciousness is being shut downnnnn. Or maybe I’m too cynical to watch the oscars…
Yeah, that balls joke? Yikes NPH. YIKES.
That Meryl Streep/JLo gif is everything I wanted out of tonight’s Oscars.
Same. And out of life, really.
Me too. I feel like that moment was specially crafted by God(dess) for me.
Hands her the envelope so he can stare down her dress. Idk if that’s clever or just gross.
Heather, Feast aired at the beginning of Big Hero 6, so idk if it’ll be on the DVD or anything, but maybe.
You can watch Feast on Disney youtube page for $2 right now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msmruQogEaQ
THANK YOU!
It’s pretty amazing
I gotta shower so HEATHER, you must provide updates on everything I’m about to miss. (Plzkthxbai)
You got it, Rones!
I’m glad I changed the channel in time to see Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba announce the cinematography award. Both are super human.
Your girlfriend’s description is spot on, Heather.
She’s pretty much always right. (Don’t tell her I said so though.)
From what I am reading Patricia is still driving her point home in the press room. TheVerge is also live tweeting the show, including some of the press room stuff and they have comments posted.
http://live.theverge.com/oscars-2015-live-blog/?_ga=1.205599632.2011568646.1403584141
I feel like part of the reason Jennifer Hudson stopped making movies is the same reason Mo’Nique “stopped making movies” after she won the oscar. And the reason Halle Berry and Octavia Spencer’s careers seemed to lag too.
No one is offering them any?
I like puns a lot but that treason joke was gross. :(
Yeaaaah. Treason “joke.”
That whole Benedict Cumberbatch/John Travolta/Idina Menzel thing was exactly what I needed
Except for Travolta needed to get his hands off her face!
Well yeah. I mean, just cuz we all want to touch her face doesn’t mean we should.
is it me or has NPH not been funny at all and has made some questionable jokes and distasteful comments during the show like what is going on can we just have Tina and Amy for the oscars next year
IDK about that. Tina and Amy had quite a few questionable jokes at the Golden Globes that made me cringe as well. He did no worse than they did in that department. At least he didn’t tell a rape joke(*glares at Tiny/Amy*).
My dad thinks Scarlet Jo is a lesbian because of her haircut, and the fact her earrings shout feminine lesbian.
WE WISH.
I agree. But, I told him she’s twice married to a guy, and he’s like still 99% lesbian. lol
My mom says it’s the fifty year anniversary of sound of music
Julie Andrews is gracious as FUCK. I love her.
Also Gaga looked suuuuuper awk after her performance lolol.
Did anyone else’s hearts just leap out of their chests while tears slowly seeped from their soul when Julie Andrews came out from side stage?
Love that woman.
Victor / Victoria anyone ?
Oh mine sure did!
The way Oprah presented the winner.
Also another mental health mention. Yes yes yes.
I totally got weepy!
Julie Andrews is my goddess and The Sound of Music is my favorite movie ever. Worth watching just to see the tribute. Gaga has the chops to actually sing it, thankfully (although it cracked me up that obviously she couldn’t hit the highest notes Peggy Wood reaches in Climb Ev’ry Mountain, but who can?). And Julie Andrews. She truly is a unicorn. Even Christopher Plummer, the grumpiest grump ever about the movie he is best known for, cannot resist her open heart.
Victor/Victoria is also one of my favorite movies!
He said going to work with her everyday was like being hit in the head with a Valentine over and over, or something like that! But in the very best way!
Yes! I remember that from the commentary on the 40th anniversary edition. So good.
I totally started crying as soon as the Imitation Game writer started that speech.
And Julianne Moore at the end there, crying and looking around for someone to make eye contact with ? That was me, crying here by myself and looking around my empty loungeroom for someone to connect with.
I have found that here on Autostraddle.
<3
I’m just piping up to show my solidarity with Riese in hating Boyhood so, so much.
awww! i didn’t really hate it though i just thought it got kinda boring. but i totally support you hating it a lot, like i’d give you a strong pat on the back for it
Your support warms my heart, thank you. :)
It just had so much potential and I feel like it didn’t even come close to what it could have been and I might be more angry at the fact that so many people seem to have LOVED it so much.
Also it was just SO LONG for a really uninteresting movie and I’m just so mad that I waited 3 hours for something interesting to happen and it never did.
But I really enjoyed the little girl until she became a teen and they deleted her personality.
Also she had the same beauty and the beast comforter on her childhood bed that I had on my childhood bed, and which is currently on my lap because I stole it back from my little sister a few years ago, so like I feel a kinship with the mysterious human who decided on that bedroom design for that one 3 minute scene.
So.
That part was good.
:)
The first three Best Actress nominee clips mention weakness, or needing help, or being nothing. And then there’s the one all about Ben Affleck.
—
Julianne Moore is wonderful!
The Unbearable Whiteness of Being (an Oscar Nominee) notwithstanding, Eddie Redmayne was amazing, clearly an adorable nerd
Ugh, I can’t stand McConaughey! I just asked my dad to stop repeating that “alright alright alright” nonsense everytime he comes on the screen. He responded like the benevolent preteen he is, all, “should I just run everything by you before I speak?” Ugh, thanks a lot McConaughey!
Do the winners of Lego Oscars also have to ask the Academy before selling them?
NPH makin’ with the box jokes like he’s a lesbian flunking an OKC first date
I can’t decide if Heather will be pleased or enraged by NPH’s predictions.
I wish he’d predicted how hard that bit would fail so he wouldn’t have done it!
I wish he hadn’t dragged the auditors of PwC into this mess.
I want to shave the truly horrible facial hair off of Sean Penn
Birdman won because all the old Academy voters want to be relevant just like Keaton’s character. It was … OK.
The woman who won for documentary short (and mentioned her son) actually made a documentary about her son’s suicide several years ago called Boy, Interrupted. Beautiful and heartbreaking film if you can get a chance to watch it.
I had no idea it was the same director! Boy Interrupted was fantastic- I saw it years ago and still remember parts very clearly
Yeah! I didn’t put it together at first, either. But then when she dedicated the award to her son Evan the name and the face clicked for me. I’m glad she seems to be doing well, and is continuing to raise awareness around the issue.
I did not hate Boyhood! I just feel like nobody is being honest about how boring it eventually becomes like and by the end your butt hurts. I liked a lot of things about it! It was just long and boring and you know, about a white dude.
Seriously, this was the realest comment I read about this movie. I did not hate it either but I remember waking up with cotton candy crust around my mouth. I heard Patricia’s speech and yaaaay “mainstream [cis white] feminism” getting one for the press and maybe it will help me too?
I enjoyed what Boyhood could have been and I might been hoping for too much but life and the everything else…
I’m watching “Party Monster” with Seth Green and my childhood boyfriend Macaulay Culkin. We might need to bring back “Retro viewing the [cult] Classics,” with (popular AS writer).
My girlfriend says, “well, after Tegan and Sara, the whole thing just stopped making me feel gayer.”