The 90th Academy Award was applaudable for making history: Jordan Peele as the first black man to win Best Original Screenplay, Daniela Vega as the first transgender woman to present in the ceremony, as well as Jodie Foster and Jennifer Lawrence as the first women to present the Best Actress award in replacement of Casey Affleck, breaking Oscars’ tradition of previous year’s Best Actor winner to present this category. Casey Affleck, who had been accused of sexual misconducts, had opted out from the Oscars previously in order not to distract the attention from the performance of the actresses.
Jodie Foster and Jennifer Lawrence did bright up the stage with their humor. The “She ‘I, Tonya’d’ me” joke pointing out to Meryl Streep Jodie Foster made in response to Jennifer Lawrence’s question about why she was on crutches arouse laughter echoing the whole stadium. Nevertheless, when the media spotlight mainly focused on these two women’s brilliant presentation and joke, which was called best joke of the night, the height difference between Jodie Foster and Jennifer Lawrence unexpectedly became a heat as well, hilarious yet insulting in some way.
The comments on Twitter went in with blade and blood. Mike Lawrence wrote, “Jodie Foster looks like a mad scientist and Jennifer Lawrence looks like her creation.” Cliff Stephenson also tweeted, “I assume Jodie Foster and Jennifer Lawrence are in rehearsals for an all-female reboot of Lord of the Rings.” More were curious and asking how tall Jennifer Lawrence exactly was, which turned “Jennifer Lawrence height” into a popular key word search that night. These comments no doubt delineated Jodie Foster and Jennifer Lawrence’s height difference in a creative and ludicrous way, yet the sarcasm came in with a little hostility toward the female body. Why did the tiny one be tagged with mad and evil, while the taller one be a passively created figure?
Actually, Jodie Foster was indeed considered petite in Hollywood, only 5’3” comparing to Jennifer Lawrence’s 5’9.” However, 6 inches height difference did not make such gargantuan photogenic impact. It was perhaps Jennifer Lawrence was in heels whereas Jodie Foster was not due to injury. However, this incident regarding height still casted a shadow on the body issue. Female bodies deserved more respect. Why so serious? It’s just a joke. Well, not the best joke.
