{"id":135102,"date":"2023-03-05T17:00:40","date_gmt":"2023-03-05T17:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/?p=135102"},"modified":"2023-03-20T19:44:01","modified_gmt":"2023-03-20T19:44:01","slug":"the-baftas-the-thing-and-the-woman-king-ariana-debose-celebrates-women-in-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/2023\/03\/05\/the-baftas-the-thing-and-the-woman-king-ariana-debose-celebrates-women-in-film\/","title":{"rendered":"The BAFTAs, the thing, and the Woman King: Ariana DeBose celebrates women in film"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the UK\u2019s biggest night of celebrating cinema, Ariana DeBose\u2019s opening performance became the most talked about moment of this year\u2019s BAFTA ceremony \u2013 and rightly so!<\/p>\n<p>DeBose is a stage and screen triple threat. Well known for her Oscar and (conveniently enough) BAFTA-winning performance in Steven Spielberg\u2019s <em>West Side Story<\/em> (2021). She even starred in the original Broadway production of <em>Hamilton<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Despite her numerous accolades her talent was lost on some Twitter users as her camp and energetic performance was labelled &#8220;awkward&#8221; and a trigger for &#8220;secondhand embarrassment&#8221;. DeBose even deactivated her Twitter account due to the so-called online backlash.<\/p>\n<p>In her number, DeBose performs on stage honouring women in film in a very interesting rap. She mentions many talented women from Charlotte Wells and Dolly De Leon, to Emma Thompson and even Cate Blanchett. The initial reaction from celebrities in the room were mainly of baffled looks and polite smiles with Jamie Lee Curtis bobbing along. It\u2019s clear that DeBose brought along her theatrical background as her performance, though dosed in awkwardness, was none less than a show.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ariana Debose EXTENDED CUT Performance @ BAFTA Opening 2023\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/X2gWAtTguNw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The lyrics &#8220;Angela Bassett did the thing, Viola Davis my woman king&#8221; sung in an out-of-breath cadence would be the highlight for the internet. And what exactly does &#8220;Jamie Lee you are all of us&#8221; mean? These lyrics have amassed both confusion and acceptance for their nonsensical manner especially on TikTok. With hundreds flocking to the sound bite to mimic her rap adding their own little dances. DeBose\u2019s lyrics are chaotic but inject fun into a very prestigious and serious award ceremony.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2023\/tv\/global\/ariana-debose-rap-baftas-carey-mulligan-1235529343\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nick Bullen<\/a> a producer of the BAFTAs claims that the DeBose criticism was \u201cincredibly unfair\u201d and claimed that people \u201cin the room absolutely loved it\u201d. I agree with Bullen in that most people actually enjoyed the performance. It has been discussed that reactions to DeBose\u2019s performance have been mostly negative. But in fact,\u00a0 it seems the negative criticism online is minimal.<\/p>\n<p>Just search DeBose\u2019s name on Twitter and it\u2019s all appreciation for her left-field performance. Yes, many viewers are confused by her rap but love it for its offbeat nature. It\u2019s for sure that DeBose\u2019s performance has cemented its place in the internet\u2019s meme culture. Some Twitter users even suggest DeBose lean into the publicity and use it to her advantage.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/programmes\/m001j9yy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Zoe Ball<\/a> for BBC Radio 2, DeBose acknowledges the online praise \u201capparently gay Twitter seemed to like it. So that\u2019s good\u201d. She even recalls Baz Luhrmann, director of <em>Elvis<\/em> (2022), approaching her to compliment the performance.<\/p>\n<p>DeBose reveals that the BAFTAs specifically wanted her to perform. This wasn\u2019t DeBose\u2019s first gig at performing at an award ceremony. She also opened the 2022 Tony Awards with a number titled <em>This is Your Round of Applause<\/em>. Compared to her BAFTA performance, this one seems more ambitious and extravagant. The low production feel of the BAFTA number may come from the fact that she apparently only had a few weeks to organise it.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ariana DeBose - &quot;This Is Your Round Of Applause&quot; (Tony Awards Opening Number 2022)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/u93JgYGfxrY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Since the night of the BAFTAs many celebrities have mentioned DeBose in their own performances and interviews. Lizzo mimicked a part of the rap in a concert in Amsterdam. Jamie Lee Curtis in a red-carpet interview calls the performance \u201cjoyous, celebratory, sisterly, hot, spicy\u201d. Angela Bassett herself even exclaims that she \u201cdid the thing\u201d after winning Entertainer of the Year at the NAACP Image Awards.<\/p>\n<p>Despite all the fuss and attention, Ariana DeBose\u2019s goal of honouring women came true as we will still be singing along to her rap for the rest of 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ariana DeBose pays tribute to women in film in a very questionable rap performed at the BAFTAs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2751,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,32096,15],"tags":[33986,3053],"coauthors":[33207],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135102"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2751"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135102"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135426,"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135102\/revisions\/135426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135102"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mancunion.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=135102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}