Oscars Therapy
I’d like to thank the academy.
Collage by Sarah Cwynar
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Watching the Oscars is my grand final. I look forward to it every year. Following the awards season as though it matters is one of the cosiest, purest things I have left in my life. I adore all of it – the months of campaigning, the gowns, the opening monologue, the turbo emotions of acceptance speeches. Two years ago I was five months pregnant with Gia watching the awards on my phone at the kitchen table. I witnessed the slap live, my jaw on the floor as I made pancakes. Last year I watched in-between baby naps and while breastfeeding, delighted to be sharing this tradition for the first time with my daughter. Last year’s ceremony was also the first I did a Tarot Red Carpet for, which has now become a tradition for me throughout awards season.
My Oscars origin story is hearing about my aunt and uncle’s fabulous Oscars parties when I was a kid. They would dress up and bet on the winners. The whole thing was extremely cool to me and I immediately wanted to be part of that world. The first Oscars I recall watching was the 1999 ceremony when Shakespeare In Love won a tonne of (unexpected) awards. Gwyneth in that pink gown and crying through her speech is hard to forget. I found myself transfixed by the glitz and drama of it all. I was hooked for life.
The leadup to the Academy Awards makes the ceremony itself all the more delicious. I like seeing as many best picture nominees as I can and listening to a mix of serious and light-hearted 'Oscars-race' conversations (Little Gold Men and This Had Oscar Buzz are fun listens). Those actor/actress roundtables on youtube are also a favourite. Equal parts inspiring, cringe and absurd.
Some fave Oscars moments: Bjork's swan dress (2001), Daniel Kaluuya's weird speech (2021), and perhaps the most iconic, John Travolta misnaming Idina Menzel (2014).
In Australia the Oscars airs on a monday morning. Not exactly the ideal conditions for a glamorous party, but we make it work. The new tradition in our household is to take the day off work for this occasion every year, to treat it like a birthday. I think that’s just fabulous.
