Oscars 2023: The Highlights, Snubs, certain changes and much talked Controversies

The Oscars are the most prestigious awards given to the creators of films produced worldwide. This year 2023, was the 95th Oscars which was hosted in Los Angeles. The said award is awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This award always brings some of the great filmmakers and creators from all over the world and their work is given recognition. There are different categories in which films are nominated and the best one is awarded from them. The year 2023 Oscars was something which was remarked different from the previous ones. Let’s see some of the highlights, snubs and controversies.

To start with the highlights, the Film Everything Everywhere All at Once’ received seven Academy Awards which also included the Best Picture award. In the history of Oscars for the past 95 years, it was for the first time a film has won awards in various categories. This film won the Directorial, three acting, original screenplay and also the best picture. The best actor award was taken away by Brendan Fraser for the Film, The Whale. The event remarked a great night for the Asian actors. It was for the first time in Oscars history that two Asian actors have won in a single year. Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian actress to receive the best actress Oscar for her role in Film Everything Everywhere All at Once. She was overwhelmed while receiving this award she said that dreams do come true. Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert won the best director award for Everything Everywhere All at Once. For the best original song, “Naatu Naatu” from RRR received the award. ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ bagged the best international feature award. For the first time, Jamie Lee Curtis won the best supporting actress for the film Everything Everywhere All at Once. Navalny received the best documentary award.

This Oscar was also known for some snubs. The same was noticed in the nominations itself. Viola Davis and Danielle Deadwyler were not seen in the category of Best Actress which indicated their ignorance as compared to white groups of celebrities. Paul Dano was expected to be in the nominations for Best Actor as the year was good in terms of his various films. But surprisingly, he missed out on the category. Jordan Peele had a good transition from comedy to horror filmmaking. But the same was unnoticed by the Academy and he was left from the nominations for Best Direction and even best picture also. He has even not received recognition for the 2022 Flick Nope for Best Sound and Best VFX category. The most shocking exclusion was the South Korean Film Decision to Leave. It was one of the most deserving foreign language films and even some acclaimed the film for best picture also. But the results were surprising as it was missed out in both categories. Another snub that is worth mentioning is Taylor Swift. Neither All Too Well nor her song Carolina was included in the nominations. Black Panther was also left from the category of adapted screenplay. The Indian Film RRR only received nominations for best original song. The makers thought to be included in Best Picture but the dreams were not fulfilled.

With reference to controversies and certain new changes, many aspects were introduced. The Academy brought some amendments to the rules of screenings, campaigns, and social media after Andrea Riseborough and Michelle Yeoh's controversies. With respect to outreach in the name of Riseborough and Michelle Yeoh, the Academy made changes in the policies which issued strict regulations with respect to streamlining campaigning, in-person events and even digital communications. Even individual behaviours were also highlighted in the same. Heavy penalties were fixed for those who were found violating the rules of the Academy. In some of the categories like Best Actress, black nominees were snubbed. After the biggest controversy in the year 2022 of ‘SLAP’, in which Will Smith slapped Chris Rock, a new team was formed to deal with unscripted moments. The team was called the crisis team.  Thus with some good and some disappointments, the Oscars ended up hopping the best win for the next one.