Yesteryear doyens Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were called to present the award for the final category of the Oscars 2017 that pertained to the best film category and in the biggest flub ever in the history of 89 years of Oscars they wrongly handed over the trophy to La La Land in place of Moonlight.
It sort of became a blot on the history of Oscars that in few years will complete a century. The nominations for this year were a great mix of people from all races. Stars like Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Ruth Negga, Barry Jenkins and Octavia Spencer well represented the black community.
But the final goof up could only be blamed on the tag of ‘racist Academy’ that hogged the limelight last year. La La land was a clear favourite and front-runner to bag home the trophy of best film but this was not to happen. Everyone is well aware of award ceremonies being scripted and there are efforts galore to please everyone. It might be difficult to say if the final act was scripted or not but the timing surely looks suspicious. The ‘tourist visiting the Oscar ceremony’ this year was as scripted as the scripted fight between Jimmy Kimmel and Matt Damon. So was the final act part of the script?
The trophy hand over act clearly reinforces that some invisible power was at play and the mandarins at the Academy wanted people to forget the last year controversy at any cost.
There is no point debating about the merits of the two films as both the films can be categorized as excellent. La La Land is a feel good film while Moonlight runs in the opposite direction. A close history of Oscars will reveal that musicals often have a great run at the award ceremony. Cases in point are films like – The Sound of Music, Oliver, Chicago, West Side Story – they all were awarded the trophy of the best film. While a film like Moonlight portrays the theme of impoverished black Americans, smeared with elements of homosexuality and scattered life, is something that has not been awarded before.
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