TRAIN WRECK OR TRIUMPH?

The 93rd Academy Awards was like none ever seen before – in both good ways and bad.

The positives saw the 2021 edition as the most diverse Oscars ever, full of historic firsts for women and people of color.

The negatives included the lowest ratings in history with only ten million American viewers watching the ceremony.

One big change, enforced by the pandemic, was the venue with the Academy largely abandoning its usual home of Hollywood’s Dolby Theatre to stage most of the event at LA’s Union Station.

And although the first Oscars held in a train station threatened to go off the rails at times, no one could fault the setting with its handsome Art Deco design features and natural light.

Opinion was divided about this scaled down, low key ceremony. But with vaccines circulating, theaters reopening and restrictions easing, there’s real hope the next Oscars will be a more traditional affair – with a much bigger audience both at the ceremony and watching around the world.