With Seth McFarlane hosting the Oscars, we here at Women and Hollywood weren’t expecting much. But the sexist, racist, homophobic and completely unfunny spree that McFarlane hosted was even worse than imagined.
The fact that a song about which Hollywood women's breasts have been on display in films led off the evening was clearly in poor taste and was a blatant misogynistic attempt to court the young male viewers at the expense of basically every leading lady and all the rest of us who do not enjoy women's body parts being made fun of. We live in a world where women in many countries are judged inferior because of our bodies and it is painful to know that the Academy thought this was appropriate for their ceremony. Couple that with The Onion’s horrific tweet about Quvenzhané Wallis, which they have since apologized for, ended in a bizarrely hateful evening.
However, it was a night whose anti-woman message was undercut by the sheer talent and magnitude of the women involved in last night’s ceremony from the music performances—Shirley Bassey, Barbra Streisand, Adele, Jennifer Hudson to the presenters—Meryl Streep, Queen Latifah, Michelle Obama—and the very deserving winners—Brenda Chapman, Andrea Nix Fine, Jennifer Lawrence, Anne Hathaway.
The women at the Oscars deserved much better as did all of us watching at home. Here are all the women who won. You can find a full list of winners at the link below.
Lead Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook
Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
Animated Feature: Brave, Brenda Chapman and Mark Andrews
Costume Design: Anna Karenina, Jacqueline Durran
Documentary Short: Inocente, Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine
Makeup and Hairstyling: Les Misérables, Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell
Original Song: "Skyfall" from Skyfall Music and Lyric by Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
Sound Editing: Skyfall, Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg
The Oscar 2013 Winners | 'Argo' Wins Best Picture; 'Life of Pi' Tops Ceremony With 4 Awards (Indiewire)
9 Sexist Things That Happened At The Oscars (Buzzfeed Shift)
Why Seth MacFarlane and The Onion’s Jokes About Quvenzhané Wallis Are So Gross (Think Progress)