The Oscars 2022: What You Missed

The Oscars 2022: What You Missed

by JORDAN GRESHAM

Credit:  Ariana DeBose, Troy Kotsur and Jessica Chastain — Getty Images

This Sunday, March 27 were the Oscars. One of the most popular events of the year, the Oscars commemorate the movies and actors that have come out in the past year. A-list celebrities come together and experience the awards night first hand in the infamous Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, California. With three hosts this year, the night was sure to stand out from previous years, and it certainly did. With new guests, new fashions, and new drama, here’s what you missed. 

The Progression of the Awards

The recipients of this year’s awards are truly amazing stars and role models. The most historic of these being West Side Story’s Ariana DeBose and CODA’s Troy Kotsur. The speeches of these two individuals were beyond memorable for their respective reasons. As the first “openly queer woman of color and Afro Latina” to win an acting Oscar, DeBose begins her inspiring speech by saying “even in this weary world that we live in, dreams do come true.” After a heartfelt moment of her thanking everyone important to her and a look onto herself as a young child, she says “To anybody who has ever questioned your identity ever, ever, ever, or you find yourself living in the gray spaces, I promise you this: There is indeed a place for us.” The power that this speech held was truly unlike any other and was definitely emotional for anyone watching. 

The other incredibly important speech of the night was made by Troy Kotsur, the first deaf male actor to win an Oscar. Before his speech even began everyone immediately got up and began waving their hands, showing their applause and appreciation through sign language. Seeing his sign language speech, he took a more lighthearted route at the beginning, but took a very supportive stance of everyone who was part of the making of the movie. This includes his thanks to the director, saying “Sian Heder, you are the best communicator… you brought the deaf world and the hearing world together. You are our bridge, and your name will forever be on that bridge,” showing how truly influential CODA was. He then takes an emotional spin talking about his “hero” dad, and ends his speech by saying “this is dedicated to the deaf community, the CODA community, and the disabled community. This is OUR moment” and finishes by saying “I did it.” It was truly such a beautiful speech for such a beautiful moment. 

Chris Rock Getting Rocked

In case you live under a rock (no pun intended) and haven’t seen it on social media, here’s what happened. Chris Rock, a well known comedian was announcing an award and did a bit before showing the nominees. In this joke, he targets Jada Pinkett Smith saying “Jada, I love you, ‘G.I. Jane 2,’ can’t wait to see it,” which was a comment on her shaved head. Now while this would be an issue in any circumstance, Pinkett Smith has Alopecia, a disease that makes you suddenly lose your hair in patches. Due to her medical condition, she made the bold and powerful decision to shave her head, and she pulls it off wonderfully. However, making a joke about a disease someone has is incredibly out of pocket and disrespectful, and you could see how Jada felt on her face. When her husband, the incredibly famous Will Smith saw her disapproval, he got up and slapped Chris Rock in the face (pictured below). Rock held it together and maintained professionality for the rest of his time on stage after Smith yelling twice “Keep my wife’s name out your f*****g mouth!” The reviews and opinions on the situation vary greatly. Some feel that Rock is in the wrong and deserved it for making the “joke” that he did. Others feel strongly against Smith, saying that the reaction was taken way too far than it needed to be. Others can see both sides, but regardless of your opinion it is undeniably the most notable event of the night. 

Credit:  Robyn Beck /Getty Images

The Oscars Tribute to the War in Ukraine

With this event being one of the most widely broadcasted events in the year, many were hoping for a large tribute to the suffering the Ukranians have had to go through since February. One of the hosts, Amy Schumer, wanted Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy to be able to speak for the Oscars on camera. She’s not the only one who wanted direct action to be taken, with Oscar winner Sean Penn saying he would melt his Oscars if they didn’t say anything about the war. The Oscars had a “moment of silence” screen during the production to honor the lives lost in the war filled country, but not much more beyond that. This is especially surprising, since Mila Kunis was a presenter for an award. Kunis was born in Ukraine, but only vaguely mentions what’s going on in front of the large crowd. The star and her husband have raised over 35 million dollars to help aid the country during Putin’s war, but not much of a statement was made. With Penn in Ukraine right now filming a documentary and helping the citizens torn by war and spreading awareness, I don’t know if the moment of silence will be close to the amount of recognition he, alongside many other stars and viewers, was wanting. However it is still good that the Academy chose to bring political awareness to the war on the night even just for a little bit. 

Women of Color On-Screen

With this years Oscar’s being so productive, it was only fitting that the night opened the way it did. The first two people we see are Venus and Serena Williams opening up the event. The two had a hit movie created about them this year, King Richard, starring Will Smith. The sisters looked fantastic in their red carpet looks and turned to the opening performance of the night performed by the one and only Beyoncé. The infamous singer sang “Be Alive” which is from the sisters’ movie. In an all tennis ball- green visual, Beyoncé killed it as always. The attention then went to not one, not two, but the three female hosts for this year: Amy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes. The three comedians made rapid fire jokes, talked the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, and having a costume change for a skit. Then with the first win being Ariana DeBose, the night was set up for success for women, especially women of color making it a very powerful night. 

The Fashion

Any night with celebrities designed by the most notable designers is likely to be a big headline. You can go on Vogue or a variety of other websites to see a full list of every outfit from the night, but here are, in my opinion, the most notable ones.

Timothee Chalamet (Photo Credit:  Getty Images)

Styled in Louis Vuitton, Timothee has made a fashion statement at the Oscars every year that he’s gone, but this one is especially recognizable. People all over are still praising the look, and in contrast to the average black and white suit from the male attendees, he certainly made his mark on the event. 

Zendaya (Photo Credit:  Getty Images)

As the definition of beauty and class, Zendaya could have shown up in rags and would look absolutely stunning. However in this look by ​​Valentino Haute Couture, she turned heads all night. Her hair, makeup and outfit were all perfectly tied together by the most beautiful Bvlgari jewelry that was simple but still made a statement that put her on the list of some of the best looks of the night.

Ariana DeBose (Photo Credit:  Getty Images)

The star won the Oscar for “Best Supporting Actress” which was a major step forward for a variety of groups of people, but for now let’s focus on her outfit. Debose came to the Oscars dressed to the nines in Valentino Haute Couture and left a variety of marks on the night. This look is perfect for her, with a pantsuit and a cape perfectly pushing the lines between femininity and masculinity and creating an image for herself perfect for the Oscars.

Simu Liu (Photo Credit:  Getty Images)

In another all-red look, Liu wore another statement look that made him stick out in an amazing way. This Versace look was fitted perfectly and gave such a lasting impression on viewers with the interesting accessories and silhouette. And with his raging success in movies including nominees and winners of Oscars, he deserves an outfit that stands out.

Lupita Nyongo’o (Photo Credit:  Getty Images)

Lupita Nyong’o has been a very notable star recently, so her flashy Oscars dress gave what it needed to give. While I’m not the biggest fan of the skirt part of it, the Prada dress was beautiful and complimented her perfectly. 

While there were definitely some style flops on the red carpet this year, these stars and many others raised the bar for Academy Award fashion for everybody. 

And the Winners Are…

Best Picture: CODA

Best Actress: Jessica Chastain, The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Best Actor: Will Smith, King Richard 

Best Director: Jane Campion, The Power of the Dog

Best Original Song: No Time to Die from No Time to Die 

Best Documentary Feature: Summer of Soul 

Best Adapted Screenplay: CODA Sian Heder 

Best Original Screenplay: Belfast, Kenneth Branagh 

Best Costume Design: Cruella 

Best International Feature Film: Drive My Car

Best Supporting Actor: Troy Kotsur, CODA

Best Animated Feature: Encanto

Best Visual Effects: Dune

Best Cinematography: Dune

Best Supporting Actress: Ariana DeBose, West Side Story 

Best Makeup and Hairstyling: The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Best Production Design: Dune

Best Editing: Dune

Best Original Score: Dune

Best Live Action Short: The Long Goodbye

Best Animated Short: The Windshield Wiper

Best Documentary Short Subject :The Queen of Basketball

Best Sound: Dune