14th March, Mumbai: The science fiction adventure drama, Everywhere Everything all at once (EEATO) scored big at the Oscars this year, nabbing 7 awards out of 11 nominations. The lead actress, Michelle Yeon, made history by being the first non-white woman to win in the Best Actor Category. This win is being seen as a cultural and historic win, the first time people of colour were given their worth. However, some netizens are not so pleased with some decisions, particularly regarding Jamie Lee Curtis winning Best Supporting Actress.
Jamie Lee Curtis won an oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of an IRS agent in EEATO. She was up against four other nominees for the category: Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Kerry Condon(The Banshees of Inisherin), Stephanie Hsu(Everything Everywhere All at Once), and Hong Chau(The Whale). Some netizens believe that Stephanie Hsu, who played the role of Evelyn Wang’s (Michelle Yeon) daughter and the mastermind in the film Joy aka Jobu Tupaki; and Angela Basset, who portrayed Queen Ramonda in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, were more deserving of the award. Big award shows like the Oscars and the Grammys are accused of handing out awards to the white community over more deserving POCs. Curtis was against three women of colour who gave spectacular performances. Many believe that the decision to undermine Hsu in favour of Curtis is because of the racism within the oscars’ inner committee.
A Twitter fan believes that the decision regarding the best-supporting actress was made purely because of “white mediocrity”. The tweet read- “Of course, the #Oscars reward white mediocrity because in what world did Jamie Lee Curtis give a better performance in comparison to Stephanie Hsu or Angela Bassett?”.
Another user tweeted-“only reason Jamie lee curtis even got considered is because they wanted to give her a legacy win not because she was good. she did NOTHING exceptional in eeao. angela bassett and Stephanie hsu im so sorry.”
One Twitter user highlighted how the academy usually gives awards to white people.” I like Jamie lee curtis, but even if you reduced it down to EEAAO she was up against Stephanie hsu. I want us all to be collectively serious. this is a blatant example of white people being rewarded despite a nonwhite person doing many times the work, and better. it’s sad af,” the user tweeted.
While Jamie Lee Curtis is an incredible actress, the fact remains that The Academy repeatedly rules in favour of white people over POCs. Even in a science fiction drama, Stephanie Hsu portrayed a realistic version of a depressed immigrant daughter, so of course Curtis, portraying the character of an IRS agent with 20 minutes of screentime, winning an oscar ruffled the feathers of netizens.