Millions of people tuned in for this night of awards and entertainment, including many film and popular culture fans at Michigan State University. 

English and creative writing junior Lily Gabos was not surprised that “Oppenheimer” and “Poor Things” swept the awards for a majority of categories this year, but was disappointed in the lack of wins for “Barbie.” 

“‘Barbie’ not winning … was like literally proving the point of the movie, which I thought was wild,” Gabos said.

Despite being one of the biggest movies of the year, “Barbie” only took home one Oscar for best original song, which went to “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell. In comparison, “Oppenheimer” won six categories and “Poor Things” won four. 

While political science and economics senior Collin Tye felt that the winners were deserving, he also expressed disappointment in other films not winning, such as “Killers of the Flower Moon,” and not being nominated at all, such as “The Iron Claw.” 

“It's just a shame there's only so many awards because there's definitely a few films that missed out,” Tye said. “It's just sort of a product of there being so many great movies.” 

International relations freshman Tarik Fermin was disappointed that “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” didn’t win best animated feature film, which went to “The Boy and The Heron.” Though Fermin has not watched the latter, he was surprised that it beat the hit Spider-Man film.

“I think that personally, that was a really good superhero movie,” Fermin said. “I think it might have been snubbed.”

Both Gabos and Fermin also expressed disappointment in Lily Gladstone, the first Native American woman and second Indigenous woman to be nominated for an Oscar for her role in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” losing the best actress category to Emma Stone. 

Between awards, Eilish and O’Connell took to the stage for a performance of their addition to the “Barbie” soundtrack and Gabos thought it was their best rendition yet. The song was so moving that attendees were shown crying in the audience. 

Another highlight of the night was Ryan Gosling’s performance of “I’m Just Ken” from the “Barbie” movie, which was "unexpected" for Gabos. 

“Surprisingly, Ryan Gosling has a really good voice,” Gabos said. “He did not miss a note. He just kept singing and it was good.” 

A standout moment in the ceremony for both Gabos was the presentation of the best supporting actor/actresses award. This year, past winners of the awards filled the stage and took a few moments to talk about each nominee in turn before announcing the winner. 

“The way that they let these big actresses like acknowledge these other big actresses for one or two minutes, I think it's just a sweet sort of thing that the Oscars did,” Gabos said. “So even if they weren't to win the category, like at least they got some sort of recognition for their work and their talent.”

Also notable at this year’s Oscars, was the red “Artists4Ceasefire” pins that some celebrities wore in support of Palestine. Attendees wearing them included Billie Eilish, Mark Ruffalo and Eugene Lee Yang.

“I think that issue needs more denotation in the media,” Fermin said. “I believe that, as far as a lot of Hollywood actors go … it's not really spoken about. And I'm really glad that a lot of actors are starting to give it a voice and a platform.”

From John Cena walking on stage with nothing but a quecard, to the best picture winner being announced by Al Pacino with “my eyes see ‘Oppenheimer,’” the 2024 Oscars ceremony was chock full of odd and entertaining moments, along with the serious displays of celebration and attempts at activism.