Why I Still Stay Up for the Oscars, No Matter Where I Am
From Bloody Mary breakfasts in Tokyo to midnight watch-parties in London, one fan sees the Oscars as an annual act of global communion.
The gleaming Oscar statuettes are still the ultimate accolade for those in the movie business.
Photographer: James Leynse/Corbis/Getty ImagesIt began as a harmless habit in my youth: settling down in front of the family television in our small rural town in Quebec, far removed from the glamor of the film industry, to watch the Academy Awards. I was that kid, more captivated by movies than hockey — a fascination that only deepened over time. It wasn’t just the stars or the spectacle that drew me in. It was the sense of participating in a shared, global moment.
The Academy Awards go back to 1929, when the first statuettes were handed out at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel in a ceremony that lasted just 15 minutes. They began to be televised nationwide in 1953, dramatically expanding their reach and cementing their place in popular culture. I was too young to witness the Oscars’ first truly viral episodes — real water-cooler moments — but their mythology lingered. In 1973, Marlon Brando refused his Oscar for The Godfather, sending Sacheen Littlefeather in his place to protest Hollywood’s treatment of Native Americans. A year later, a streaker sprinted across the stage, live on television.