A Recap of the 2023 Oscars

After the three-ringed circus that was the Oscars 2022, it was nice to have some normalcy come back to the Oscars, and all things considered, the award show went relatively smoothly. This is excellent, considering the Oscars listened to cinema fans and added all the categories up for awards into the show. 

Jimmy Kimmel did a decent job at hosting occasionally, having some good moments, and avoiding jokes about sexually harassing the actors, unlike the hosts from last year. Will Smith jokes were abundant indirectly, but most were expecting that.

The night's first award was Best Animated Feature, which went to “Guillermo De Toro’s Pinocchio,” the first non-Disney animated film to win since 2018’s “Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse.” Del Toro gave a riveting speech that Animation is Cinema and should be respected more. 

However, the night’s biggest winner was “Everything Everywhere All At Once.” The film was nominated for 11 awards and went home with seven awards in total, including three out of the four Best Actor awards (Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis), Best Director (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, and most importantly, Best Picture. 

Michelle Yeoh made history by winning Best Actress and being the first woman who identifies as Asian to win the award. This has also been a record-breaking year for Asians having four up for nominations in the Best Acting categories. 

There were controversies because this is the Oscars, and they cannot please everyone. For example, most have long waited for Jamie Lee Curtis to be recognized for her talent. However, some have argued that this is a legacy award and should go to either Curtis’ co-star in “Everything Everywhere All at Once” Stephanie Hsu, or Angela Bassett for “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” 

Another is that some have been upset with who was left out of the show's In Memoriam segment. However, this is mainly done to save time in an already long ceremony, and a complete list of those who have passed is posted on the Oscars website. 

Other than those minor controversies, the Oscars have made some improvements, such as recognizing more films and all the different categories within the show. There is still a way to go in the diversity of these awards, but if this year was any indication, we are looking at some improvement going forward.