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Mitchell’s Musings: And the Oscar goes to…

The ending of the Academy Awards is still rattling around in my brain
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Glenn Mitchell

I figure I’m overdue on the things rattling around in my head that are bothering me about the world such as it is, and they have to be let out or you know, it’s just healthy OK?, so there…..

……the ending of the Academy Awards is still rattling around in my brain.

That night I had trouble sleeping thinking about the people involved and how was it actually possible to get the biggest award of the night, Best Picture, wrong?

I felt sorry for the La La Land people, who actually had to stand there on stage accepting applause and giving a speech that we all dream of giving in our fantasy lives, only to have it be one big mistake, and ultimately, in front of millions of people worldwide, not to mention a theatre full of their peers, have it go to someone else.

I have to say, however, they handled it with grace and style.

And then what about the Moonlight people who were denied their time in the sun, ironically, as they hesitantly took to the stage wondering “could it be true and is this really happening?”

Instead of basking in the glow of what should have been one of the biggest upsets in Oscar history, the little film that could beat out the odds-on-favourite, big-budget blockbuster, the moment got lost in all the madness.

After we learn about the double envelopes and how it works behind the scenes, and maybe an unfortunate time to post a picture amidst the proceedings, it’s actually easy to see how Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty were put in a very difficult position that despite their years of acting experience couldn’t ad-lib their way out of.

In fact if you’ve ever had to host a small event, or even, say put out a newspaper on a regular basis, you know the potential for things to go wrong is huge despite all of your and everyone else’s best efforts. That’s why I tell the staff, and anyone else who will listen, that each publication of a newspaper is a small miracle in its own right when you factor in all the obstacles and things that can potentially go wrong.

So, although it may be the biggest blunder in Oscar history and it’s hard to argue against that one, I’m going to be somewhat sympathetic on this one. After all can you imagine the inner workings of what it takes to stage an event the magnitude of the Academy Awards? I know they’re professionals when it comes to these things but the human factor always overrides everything so I’m going with “To err is human, to forgive divine” on this one, thanks Alexander Pope…..

…..it’s more than a little ironic that President Donald Trump took a beating all night, most of it from host Jimmy Kimmel (who was very funny and did a great job) and most of it deservedly so, for all of his screwups in his short stint at the White House so far, and then……….the very show that’s taking all the jabs for all the miscues out of the gate in Washington, screws up the presentation of its biggest award of the night in spectacular fashion.

Ha, irony can bite you in the butt. However, unlike Trump at least the Academy handled it the best way it could under the circumstances and admitted the mistake. Heck, Kimmel even tried valiantly to take the rap for it. Well done Jimmy….

……all of this just fits into my mantra that, more or less, we’re all winging it. Although we are professionals and we do our best and we hopefully learn from our mistakes, no matter what field you’re in there’s an element of winging it in there somewhere. Certainly Trump is taking it to new levels at the highest level, and spreading heaps of angst and anxiety along the way, let’s just hope he learns on the job as he goes, for all of our sakes…..