Reflections on Demi Moore's Oscar Loss

Bruno Ricardo de Souza Dias
EEdition: Marco Aurélio Lucchetti

In the latest edition of Oscar, We Brazilians are more engaged than usual during the awards ceremony. After all, the national film... I'm Still Here (2024), directed by Walter Salles, achieved the feat of competing in three categories: Best Actress, Best International Film, and the unprecedented nomination for Best Picture..
CAs we know, the film won the award for Best International Film..
MHistoric moment!.
FHi, the first one. Oscar For Brazil throughout history, this led to a huge celebration in the streets of some Brazilian cities, as the ceremony coincidentally took place on the same Sunday night as Carnival.

Fernanda Torres, playing Eunice Paiva, in a scene from I'm Still Here.

Even though they were happy with this achievement, the anticipation of many Brazilians was not yet over, as there was a possibility that Fernanda Torres, although a long shot, could also win the prize, because she had won the... Golden Globe The Best Actress in a Drama Film award was highly praised and considered a possible winner by some film media outlets. However, the anticipated award ultimately went to Mikey Madison for her performance in... Anora (written, directed and edited by Sean Baker), which would also win, among other awards, the most coveted of the night: the Oscar Best Picture.

Mikey Madison, displaying the Oscar for Best Actress.

Despite the disappointment we felt at Fernanda Torres' defeat, we Brazilians knew it would be difficult for her to win, due to... Oscar having been created by the American film industry to primarily reward itself..
MBut what I intend to discuss here is a much more complex point: the defeat of the overwhelming favorite, Demi Moore, who was competing for the... Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in The Substance (The Substance, 2024), a feature film directed by French filmmaker Coralie Fargeat.

Demi Moore, playing the character Elisabeth Sparkle, in The Substance.

Demi Moore rose to stardom in Hollywood in the 1980s and cemented her name in the first half of the 1990s, starring in major film hits such as... Ghost – From the Other Side of Life (Ghost, 1990), Indecent Proposal (Indecent Proposal, 1993) and Sexual harassment (Disclosure, 1994), and being elevated to the category of muse and sex symbol.

Demi Moore, in a scene from Sexual harassment, an American film based on a book written by Michael Crichton (1942-2008).

So, by playing roles that allowed her beauty to be constantly exalted and fetishized, Demi was seen by the Hollywood industry and millions of fans worldwide as one of the biggest stars of the moment. However, the actress sought to break free from this cliché imposed by Hollywood and acted in dramas. The Juror (The Juror, 1996) and Up to the Limit of Honor (GI Jane, 1997).

Demi Moore, portraying Lieutenant Jordan O'Neil, in Up to the Limit of Honor.

Her performance in these two films was not recognized by critics and audiences in the same way as her work in films that emphasized her beauty and... sex appeal. Demi even went so far as to... “"to win"” the dishonorable prize Golden Raspberry (the “Oscar reverse"” It was first awarded in 1981 and, since then, has recognized the worst films, worst actors, worst actresses, etc. (presented throughout each year) and Worst Actress in 1996, for her performance in The Juror. That same year, she and Burt Reynolds won the Golden Raspberry Worst On-Screen Couple, for their acting in the film Striptease (idem, 1996).

Demi Moore, in a scene from Striptease.

It was because of his performance in Striptease that Demi Moore saw her Hollywood career begin to unravel.
NIn the film, she played Erin Grant, an FBI secretary who loses her job due to her ex-husband's scams and starts working as... stripper, In order to regain custody of her daughter, Angela (played by Rumer Willis, the eldest daughter of Demi and actor Bruce Willis), Erin must confront not only her ex-husband, but also a perverse congressman and corrupt politicians.

DEmi and Rumer Willis, in Striptease.

Despite having had an intense campaign of marketing, Striptease, The film, which explores Demi's semi-nudity, was not a box office success. And it displeased critics, who did not appreciate the actress's performance at all..
DFrom then on, Demi Moore's career would never be the same. Her attempts to star in major popular films were unsuccessful, leaving her with smaller roles and mainly acting in independent films. This continued until her rehabilitation in... The Substance.
AYes, we're back to Oscar.
Demi Moore gained prominence for the biggest award in cinema thanks to the film's campaign and her performance, which was hailed as the most perfect of her career and brought her back into the public spotlight..
DEmi was consolidating her position in the race for Oscar Best Actress, having won numerous prestigious awards, such as the Golden Globe, Satellite Awards, Critics' Choice  and the SAG (from the Screen Actors Guild of Hollywood), among several others.

Demi Moore, giving a speech after winning the Golden Globe Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.
A award ceremony Golden Globe It took place on January 5, 2025, at The Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California.

In the main bets, the Oscar For Demi Moore, it seemed certain, considering the entire awards season and Demi's strong speech about how her career had been sidelined in Hollywood, which never gave her the recognition she deserved. Thus, this should have been Demi Moore's moment of redemption at the biggest film awards ceremony, for her performance in a film that seems to tell her own story as a movie star. However, to the surprise of many, when they announced the winner of the... Oscar When it came to the Best Actress award, it wasn't Demi Moore's name that was heard. It was Mikey Madison's, just twenty-five years old, who had already won the... BAFTA from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and was Demi's main opponent.

Demi Moore's reaction upon hearing another name announced as the winner of the night was terrifying. No matter how much she tried to hide it and applaud Mikey Madison, her astonishment and displeasure were evident. After all, she hadn't won for her performance in... The Substance And considering the overall context of the film, she shouldn't be recognized by... Oscar Never again.

Mikey Madison, playing stripper New Yorker Anora Mikheeva, in Anora.

I believe that Mikey Madison, like Fernanda Torres, gave outstanding performances and was truly among the best of the year. Therefore, the fact that she won is by no means an aberration, as has happened on other occasions (the victory of Gwyneth Paltrow, who in 1999 competed with Fernanda Montenegro, Cate Blanchett and Meryl Streep, is one of the most evident examples). However, ironically, Mikey won a Oscar for a role very similar to the one for which Demi Moore was humiliated in the 1990s and which almost ended her successful acting career. Okay, we live in different times and society has changed since then, but the memory and the comparison are inevitable..
PHowever, a “"irony"” It doesn't stop there: the fact that Demi Moore lost the award to a much younger actress immediately brings to mind her own role in... The Substance, In the film, her character, Elisabeth Sparkle, has an aerobics program on television and, because she is getting old, is replaced by a woman approximately half her age. This woman, Sue, played by Margaret Qualley, is a version of Elisabeth herself.

Margaret Qualley, playing Sue (an improved and younger version of Elisabeth Sparkle), in The Substance.

(Open a parenthesis).
Sobre The Substance I wrote the text “The Substance – Controversial, Shocking and Visceral, A Redemption of Demi Moore”, which can be found and read here. site. Those who wish to read the text, click on the following link: https://cauim.org/a-substancia-polemico-chocante-e-visceral-uma-redencao-de-demi-moore/.
Close the parenthesis.
Many criticisms arose regarding the awarding of the Oscar Regarding Best Actress and its possible ageism. However, it is difficult to say for sure if there was age discrimination, although, from time to time, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences seeks to give more emphasis to a young actress who is soaring towards stardom (here we can again cite Gwyneth Paltrow).
Taking this criticism into account, it is important to look at the Academy's recent history: in the last ten editions, the Oscar The Best Actress award has been given four times to women under forty [Brie Larson, Emma Stone (twice) and Mikey Madison] and six times to women over that age [Frances McDormand (twice), Olivia Colman, Renée Zellweger, Jessica Chastain and Michelle Yeoh], showing in this current analysis a balance in the awarding of the prize to mature women and younger women.
There is no doubt that ageism is a point of discussion in Hollywood, particularly regarding women. However, at least in terms of awards... Oscar, This doesn't seem to be an obvious problem.

Emma Stone, considered Best Actress in two editions of Oscar2017 and 2024.

But there is another important point that deserves reflection, regarding Demi Moore having lost the OscarThe fact that she was nominated for her performance in a horror film, a genre the Academy has always completely ignored, especially when it's a shocking and controversial body horror film, is particularly concerning..
É known that Oscar It was created to reward great drama films, which were far from being as popular as genre films, such as the comedies of Charles Chaplin.

The photo above, taken from Modern Times (Modern Times), a classic of cinema, shows the main actors of the film: Paulette Goddard (1910-1990) and Charles Chaplin (1889-1977).
Llaunched in 1936, Modern Times It was written, produced, directed, and starred Charles Chaplin, who was also responsible for the film's soundtrack.

Open another parenthesis.
Chaplin was practically ignored by the Academy (in 1972, he received a Oscar Honorary), although he has always shown that he didn't care much about the award..
Fclose this parenthesis.
AI believe it's long past time for horror to be recognized, as it has always been sidelined, even though, in my opinion, it's one of the most cinematic and daring genres..
AOnly once has a film considered to be horror won the... Oscar It was for Best Picture. The Silence of the Lambs (The Silence of the Lambs, (1991), directed by Jonathan Demme. Surprisingly, the film also won the awards for Best Adapted Screenplay (Ted Tally), Best Director, Best Actor (Anthony Hopkins), and Best Actress (Jodie Foster). But, let's face it, despite being a masterpiece, it's much more of a suspense or psychological horror film than one with explicit gore. The Substance.
JWe've had other award-winning performances in horror, suspense, or darker aesthetic films: Ruth Gordon (Best Supporting Actress – 1969), for Rosemary's Baby Baby, 1968); Kathy Bates (Best Actress – 1991), for Crazy Obsession (Misery, 1990); and Natalie Portman (Best Actress – 2011), for  Black Swan (Black Swan, 2010). However, these are exceptions that prove the rule. This is evident in more recent times, when outstanding female performances in films of this type were ignored [Toni Collette, for Hereditary (Hereditary, 2018); Lupita Nyong'o, by Us (Us, 2019); and Mia Goth, by Pearl (idem, 2022)], prompting much criticism from the public and questions about why horror is so despised in Oscarr.

Natalie Portman, playing Nina Sayers, a perfectionist professional ballerina, in Black Swan.

Mia Goth, playing Pearl, a paranoid young woman, in Pearl, a film of the genre Slasher.

I believe, above all, that a broad critical analysis of Hollywood's ageism is important, but also an analysis of how a genre like horror suffers such prejudice precisely from its own industry peers..
NI have no doubt that, when the genre receives the attention and prominence it deserves, some films will be considered – in the same way as great dramas – first-rate. Then, magnificent and daring performances, like Demi Moore's in... A Substance They will inevitably receive the recognition they deserve.

Bruno Ricardo de Souza Dias has a degree in History and is a great connoisseur of films.