The Time ‘High School Musical’—and Beyoncé!—Infiltrated The Oscars
For a long time, my Oscars origin story was a bit fuzzy. It used to hurt my brain trying to recall which nominated film or performance sucked me into Hollywood’s toxic but exhilarating pageant machine. Maybe it was seeing Elliot Page nominated for his performance in Juno. (I had no idea a film with quotes plastered all over Facebook could receive such attention.) Or maybe it was one of my hometown heroes, Mo’Nique, winning Best Supporting Actress for Precious. (I could write an entire book on the wild cultural moment that was Precious. Based on the novel Push. By Sapphire!)
That said, I have a lot of scattered memories from 2006 to 2010 when I would casually catch glimpses of the awards show or Access Hollywood’s coverage of it. Still, I was never excited enough about the individual nominees to sit my jittery ass in front of my TV and watch Hollywood pat themselves on the back for three whole hours.
Then it hit me while I was reminiscing over Beyoncé’s fascinating history with the broadcast last year. It wasn’t a nominee that eventually made me want to tune into the Oscars every year. It was a musical performance with a bunch of stragglers who had no real business being at the show—minus that year’s host, Hugh Jackman.