And the Oscar goes to...

I am a total sucker for Awards shows. I know that may seem strange to some of you but I just love them all. I always have. Most especially I love the Academy Awards.

Even when I was young, I made a point to be sure I was home to watch the Academy Awards. Once Tom and I, along with a friend, were traveling along the Eastern shore, with our barely two year old daughter, and we made it a point to stop and check into a motel in time to tune in. I remember the motel as a true motel and a little seedy at that (think Schitt’s Creek Rosebud Motel) but it did not matter: they had a television—a smallish black and white one—so we got to watch the Academy Awards and that is what mattered. Everyone else fell asleep but I was awake until the very end.

There seem to be a lot more awards shows these days—the Golden Globes, the SAG awards, the Emmys, the Grammys and so on—or maybe more are just televised. I try to watch them all.

Oh, I know there are often politics behind these awards but I don’t care. They no longer announce “And the winner is…” but instead say “The Oscar (or Golden Globe or Emmy or..) goes to..” We all know that all the nominees are winners in their own way plus so many who did not make the cut were outstanding creative works.

I have literally almost no sense of fashion but I love the walk on the red carpet. I love the people all dressed up, or all dressed down, depending on the fashion of the day. Some outfits are shocking and some are just pure glam. But I am entertained through it all.

We do stream on many platforms but many of the nominees this year were only available if you paid to rent or buy. We don’t do that. We’ll pay for the streaming service but no, no, no, we are not going to pay an additional fee. We wait. Eventually they all come out for free (but often AFTER the Oscars are given.)

This year we have seen Oppenheimer, Barbie, Killers of the Flower Moon (I skipped this one—too violent for me—but Tom watched it), The Holdovers, and Maestro. We have not yet seen American Fiction, Anatomy of a Fall, Past Lives, Poor Things or Zone of Interest. This year, with ten films nominated for Best Picture, it seems like quite a lot of nominees and quite a diversity of nominees. Everyone seems to be expecting Oppenheimer to win the Oscar for Best Film and I must say it is a brilliant film in every way, though very dark (literally and metaphorically) as is the subject matter.

We have managed to see a few of the documentaries and a few of the short films. These are harder to view streaming, but we did see a few and loved The Last Repair Shop and 20 Days in Mariupol. Before the pandemic we went to the movies about twice a week. Now we see almost everything via streaming and if it isn’t streaming then we often don’t see it.

Our son’s best friend in elementary school is the co-founder of a visual effects company, Barnstorm VFX, in Los Angeles so we definitely try to cheer for his company when they are nominated (and they often are). Yes, we like even the rather obscure awards like Sound and Makeup. There are so many pieces and parts and people that comprise a film.

Both my husband Tom and I studied filmmaking at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Department, which is now the Hussman School of Journalism and Media, was then called Radio, Television and Motion Pictures, RTVMP for short. I had dreams of becoming either a screen writer or a film editor but my life path took me in a totally different direction. Tom wanted to direct live television but that had almost disappeared by the time we graduated. He should have waited it out and been ready to step in to Saturday Night Live! We both made several student production films while at Carolina. Sadly I think they were all discarded in various decluttering and moves.

When I was in college and happened to be home on the night of the Academy Awards, my mother and I would watch the Oscars together and she would say, “One day they will be calling out your name…” That never happened and it is not a crushing blow for me really, but I loved that my mother had so much faith in me and my creative talents.

I was trying to remember the first movies I ever saw. I remember going to see The Wizard of Oz with my sister and brother at the Ambassador Theater in downtown Raleigh. I was totally terrified by the flying monkeys and jumped to the floor and went under my seat, refusing to come out until my mother came and pried my hands loose from the legs of that seat I was gripping in terror. That film was one of the first films my mother saw growing up and she talked about how amazed she was when the film changed from black and white to color. I would not watch The Wizard of Oz again until I was in my 30’s. I still cringe at those flying monkeys.

I loved the film Old Yeller and wept with everyone else in the theater. I think I was about 8 years old when I saw that film. It still makes me cry. I remember taking our daughter to see E.T. when she was about that age and her sobbing at the end of the movie. She looked at me and asked, “Why would you bring me to such a sad movie, Mommy?” Movies can make us cry and laugh and gasp and sigh. Magic. Pure magic.

I also remember one year when we were on vacation at Carolina Beach and it was pouring rain, we left my father at the cottage reading his newspaper and my mother took us to see Gone With the Wind. We stopped at Britt’s Donuts and bought a bag of hot, greasy, delicious donuts to take into the movie with us. I think that was my Mother’s way of making sure my little brother made it all the way to the end of the Southern saga. You can still buy Britt’s Donuts on the boardwalk but I don’t think there is still a movie theater there.

This year I have been listening to all the original songs that have been nominated. This has never been much of a focus for me in the past but this year is different. There are two from Barbie, “I’m Just Ken” and the stunning “What Was I Made For” sung by Billie Eilish. My very favorite this year is “It Never Went Away” by Jon Baptiste from his documentary American Symphony. Google and you can listen to all the nominees.

Now I know that some of you may have absolutely zero interest in award shows and maybe you don’t even like movies. I can’t imagine that but maybe that is true.

I love films. Even though I am not part of the world that creates them and no, my name will never be called when the envelope is opened, I still think films hold a magic that is different from all other media and creative endeavors. I don’t know what you will be doing Sunday evening (starting earlier this year at 7 PM Eastern Time) but as for me and my household, we’ll be tuning in to watch the Academy Awards and enjoying every minute. I’ve already printed out my ballot so I can follow along.

The envelope please…