The 2014 Oscars: The Good, The Awesome, and the Silly

If you watched the Oscars broadcast, you should know that Ellen DeGeneres wasn’t joking: this really was the star-studded selfie tweeted ’round the world, breaking the previous record set by President Obama’s re-election victory tweet and becoming the first user to top  one million retweets on a single tweet.

For everything else you need to know about the Oscars today in order to have a water cooler conversation about it, and, of course, the winners, read on!

Gravity swept the show, earning seven of the ten categories in which it was nominated, mostly technical awards but also, notably, a first Best Directing Oscar for Alfonso Cuarón. And NASA was on it, tweeting up a storm of real space photos and facts, as well as congratulating Gravity‘s creators with every win. We could say something like how this all just goes to show that lady-led action and science fiction film can not only make lots of money, it can also be an awards season darling, a big notch not just in the career of the lead actress, but of many of the other folks involved in making it. But we don’t have to, because Cate Blanchett said as much in her acceptance speech for Best Actress in a Leading Role for Blue Jasmine:

Thank you to Sony Classics, to Michael and Tom for their extraordinary support, for so bravely and intelligently distributing the film and to the audiences who went to see it and perhaps those of us in the industry who are still foolishly clinging to the idea that female films with women at the center are niche experiences. They are not. Audiences want to see them and, in fact, they earn money. The world is round, people.

Lupita Nyong’o also delivered a stirring speech as she accepted Best Actress in a Supporting Role, the sixth black actress to ever do so in the Academy’s eighty-six year history, thanking the historical personages who lived and preserved the events she helped portray in 12 Years a Slave, director Steve McQueen, co-star Michael Fassbender and other crew, friends and family. She capped the speech with these words: “When I look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child that no matter where you’re from, your dreams are valid. Thank you.”

Frozen also took home the Oscars for Best Animated Feature and Original Song, which allowed songwriting duo Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez to deliver an adorable rhyming joint acceptance speech in which they dedicated “Let it Go” to their two daughters. “This song is inspired by our love for you and the hope you never let fear or shame keep you from celebrating the unique people that you are.” With this award, the two are now EGOT winners, i.e., recipients of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony, making Robert Lopez the second Hispanic person to earn the honor, and the first Hispanic man.

Indeed the only awkward moment for Frozen in the broadcast was during John Travolta‘s introduction of Idina Menzel‘s performance of the song, in which he mispronounced her name so badly that he created a new twitter account. And with that, we enter the realm of all that was silly at the Oscars this year. Benedict Cumberbatch notably photobombed U2. Pharrell Williams wore another ridiculous hat and danced with nominated actresses. And everybody ate pizza.

I think I’m going to go eat some pizza now.

Best Picture – 12 Years a Slave
Best Actor in a Leading Role – Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Actress in a Leading Role – Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave)
Best Animated Feature – Frozen (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho)
Best Cinematography – Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)
Best Costume Design – The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin)
Best Directing – Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)
Best Documentary Feature – 20 Feet from Stardom (Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen, Caitrin Rogers)
Best Documentary Short – The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life (Malcolm Clarke, Nicholas Reed)
Best Film Editing – Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger)
Best Foreign Language Film – The Great Beauty (Italy)
Best Makeup and Hairstyling – Dallas Buyers Club (Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews)
Best Original Score – Gravity (Steven Price)
Best Original Song – “Let It Go” – Frozen
Best Production Design – The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn)
Best Animated Short Film – Mr. Hublot (Laurent Witz, Alexandre Espigares)
Best Live Action Short Film – Helium (Anders Walter, Kim Magnusson)
Best Sound Editing – Gravity (Glenn Freemantle)
Best Sound Mixing – Gravity (Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro)
Best Visual Effects – Gravity (Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, Neil Corbould)
Best Adapted Screenplay – 12 Years a Slave (John Ridley)
Best Original Screenplay – Her (Spike Jonze)

Are you following The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +?

Have a tip we should know? tips@themarysue.com

Author

Close

Susana Polo

Susana Polo thought she'd get her Creative Writing degree from Oberlin, work a crap job, and fake it until she made it into comics. Instead she stumbled into a great job: founding and running this very website (she's Editor at Large now, very fancy). She's spoken at events like Geek Girl Con, New York Comic Con, and Comic Book City Con, wants to get a Batwoman tattoo and write a graphic novel, and one of her canine teeth is in backwards.

twitter