First things first: Let’s make very clear that this is not about dunking on Billie Eilish. If anything, it’s the exact opposite. If ever there was a roomful of ego-inflating weirdness that could use a healthy reminder of its actual place in the world, the Oscars are it, and newly minted Grammy winner and creator of one of the ten best records of 2019 the ideal candidate to do the reminding.
Yes, Eilish has spent the 2020 Academy Awards ceremony more or less being a normal, sane teenager. Which is to say, she’s reacting with the appropriate level of “Huh?”, “Why?”, “Excellent,” and “Yuck”, to the deserving targets of her assessment. All of this is a long-winded way of saying she has 100% won the Oscars Reaction Shot Queen competition in a runaway. For example, here’s her reaction to the comedy bit performed by the duo of Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig:
Priceless. Twitter, of course, is doing what Twitter does in response.
For that alone, she would probably net the award. But luckily we’ve got more! For another excellent instance of a .gif you’ll probably be seeing employed for the next six to eight months straight, here’s Eilish’s reaction to the unexpected appearance of 2002 Oscar winner Eminem showing up to perform his hit “Lose Yourself” for some inexplicable reason:
“Why the fuck is the camera still on me,” she seems to be glumly pondering, “when I have made my thoughts on this matter quite clear already.” It’s basically a half-step away from watching a group of high school kids at a wedding wondering why all the old people are freaking out when the DJ throws on “Hey Ya.” Did we mention how much everyone loves her reaction to Rudolph and Wiig?
Let us now praise Billie Eilish. Thanks to her, we do not have to do the difficult job of thinking up original ways to express disgust/dislike/irritation/basically any negative opinion on social media in the coming year. She has done it for us.