What La La Land lost in an Oscar, it gained in brilliant memes
The Oscars might have been thrown into confusion after messing up who won Best picture, but the internet knew exactly how to react.
It all went a bit wrong after La La Land was named the winning film, despite the fact that, actually, gay-themed film Moonlight had won the best picture prize.
Bonnie and Clyde stars Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway had originally announced that La La Land had won the award.
The producers of the hit musical film were part way through their speeches when the mix-up was revealed. Jordan Horowitz said: “There’s a mistake. Moonlight, you guys won best picture.
“This is no joke. I’m afraid they read the wrong thing. This is not a joke, Moonlight, you won best picture.”
And in that moment as he displayed the correct card to the camera, which read “Moonlight”, a million internet memes were born.
And of course, the Trump classic.
#Oscars pic.twitter.com/BDSYI6vXUt
— Chris Pirillo (@ChrisPirillo) February 27, 2017
Moonlight, which stars Trevante Rhodes, Ashton Sanders and Alex Hibbert, explores the life of an African-American boy at different ages – portraying him struggling to reconcile his sexuality and identity.
Moonlight, the actual winner, has been praised by critics and LGBT people alike for its “exploration of gay black masculinity… managing to do so without ever diminishing the lives full of complex humanity that black gay men still manage to have in America while navigating that reality”.
It’s also become the first LGBT-themed film to win the best picture Oscar, which is pretty amazing.
