Revisiting the famous Oscar selfie 10 years later
Sunday’s Oscars broadcast marks 10 years since Ellen DeGeneres hosted and initiated a noteworthy selfie that went viral. The selfie, which was tweeted by DeGeneres, was retweeted a then record number of times.
DeGeneres made the selfie appear spontaneous, but it serves as a good example of a “pseudoevent.”
A pseudo-event is a term that was coined by Daniel Boorstin in his book, “The Image.” Boorstin refers to happenings that are attentively planned by interested parties, even though there’s the appearance of being unprompted and unrehearsed.
The tweet from DeGeneres stated, “If only Bradley’s arm was longer. Best photo ever.”
She was referring to Bradley Cooper, who took the selfie apparently using DeGeneres’ white Galaxy phone. The implication was, if Cooper’s arm was longer, more actors could be included in the photo (beyond DeGeneres, Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Lupita Nyong’o, Channing Tatum, Kevin Spacey and Jared Leto).
DeGeneres identified the tweet with an Oscars hashtag, yet there were no suggestions of advertising or marketing communication at work.
Later, there was some questioning about why DeGeneres was using a Galaxy phone when she was known to be an Apple user.
Incidentally, Samsung — the makers of the Galaxy mobile phone — were key sponsors of the Oscars. The company spent roughly $20 million on placing ads during the broadcast of the Academy Awards.
Samsung initially denied being involved with the selfie, while pronouncing that one dollar would be donated for every retweet of the photo. Subsequently, it was revealed that the DeGeneres selfie was preplanned and exemplified a farreaching product placement initiative.
Evidently, the selfie met Boorstin’s criteria of a pseudo-event: it was arranged for the purpose of being reproduced, the happening was not spontaneous even though the underlying motives seemed ambiguous, and it exemplified a self-fulfilling prophecy. For a moment in time, the selfie was the “best photo ever,” being retweeted a record number of times.
Still, the photo has not aged well, as several featured celebrities in the selfie have become persona non grata. Among that list was Oscars host DeGeneres, who would face considerable scrutiny about overseeing a toxic work environment at her long-running talk show. Pitt and Angelina Jolie would undergo a public and nasty divorce. Spacey would subsequently face multiple sexual assault allegations. Other Hollywood A-listers have lost relevance or popularity over the last decade.
Another notable event from the past occurred when American soccer player Brandi Chastian removed her jersey after scoring the winning kick during a shootout at the World Cup final. Her jersey removal made a Nike sports bra visible during a monumental occasion.
A spokesperson for Nike denied the act being scripted. Still, Chastian was an endorser for Nike, prompting questions about the spontaneity of her actions.
It’s also easy to be skeptical about the spontaneity of coaches being drenched by Gatorade to celebrate a big win (given the brand’s partnerships with major sports leagues). Jim Burt — playing for the NFL’s New York Giants — is thought to be the first player to dump a Gatorade cooler on a coach.
Returning our attention to the Oscars, the selfie initiated by DeGeneres illustrates how cancel culture has emerged over the past decade.
The Oscars also face considerable challenges in maintaining the relevance they once had. NFL playoff games and the Super Bowl dominate the most watched broadcasts. Compared to hosts of the Oscars, Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce hold considerably more potential to generate attention and retweets on X (formerly known as Twitter).
Jimmy Kimmel hosts tonight’s Oscars. One wonders if everything he says follows a script, especially once a brand becomes visible or mentioned.