UNFORGETTABLE MOMENTS AT THE ACADEMY AWARDS
The Academy Awards have presented us with many amazing and unforgettable moments throughout the years, many of which will forever live on because of the tears and laughs that those moments brought us. Some of these unforgettable moments have to include Anne Hathaway and James Franco's 2011 comedic presence, Chris Rock’s 2016 ecstatic speech on race in Hollywood, Neil Patrick Harris’s awkward moment up on stage in 2015, and of course Jimmy Kimmel’s strong comedic and political presence last night.
Anne Hathaway and James Franco undoubtedly had one of the best moments at the Oscars during the 83rd Academy Awards. Who could possibly forget Hathaway and Franco’s comedic presence up on stage with Anne wearing a tux too big for her size and Franco wearing a bright pink dress with a hilarious blonde wig on. There was no way that the audience or the hosts could control themselves with laughter (and understandably so). People could say that The King’s Speech won the night, but in reality the hosts won the night with their incredible comedic sketch.
A few years later, we had another interesting host in Neil Patrick Harris. Neil began the show by introducing himself in an unusual and awkwardly comedic way that gathered a lot of buzz around the industry and outside of it. The show started with a behind the screen scene of Neil walking towards center stage in which he apparently got locked out of his dressing room and because of that, he had to come up on stage only wearing his underwear. Yes, you read that right people, just him and his bright white underwear. The audience was shocked but could not contain their laughter - rightfully so. As expected, Neil gave us about ten seconds of pure awkward silence before finally talking. Surprisingly enough, things got even weirder as he began to talk. Classic Neil.
A year after the infamous underwear skit, the Oscars made a 360 turn and went completely political with host Chris Rock. As expected, the political comments made by the host of the 88th Academy Awards raised a lot of controversy - especially since the event was taking place during a very divisive presidential election. Host Chris Rock right away addressed the elephant in the room in his opening monologue when he attacked the Academy for not nominating enough African-Americans. Historically in the film industry, African-Americans have not been represented enough, and his speech was so powerful that it immediately started a movement within the community and those within the industry. During the event, many people began to tweet, #OscarsSoWhite, in protest. Not only that, many people also gathered outside the venue with huge posters to protest. The protest definitely got the message across and it was shown the following year when Mahershala Ali won best supporting actor and the film Moonlight won best picture.
How can we talk about the Oscars and not mention tonight's host - the great Jimmy Kimmel. Every year we have a host raising awareness on important topics occuring at the time, and this year was no different. Jimmy’s opening monologue celebrated history, raised awareness on sexual harassment scandals in the workplace and even joked about it to make light of the moment. Of course, we can’t forget the funniest part of the opening monologue - a reference to last years infamous envelopegate - when the Academy wrongfully awarded La La Land with the Best Picture Award. A funny, unforgettable, and cringe worthy moment in deed.
Sure we had a few political references at this years Academy Awards, but none were too serious to take the light of center stage. We heard a lot about female empowerment on a night in which they were represented like never before. We also heard about sexual harassment, and although not strongly mentioned we also did hear about gun violence. In fact, many of the actors and actresses were seen wearing orange pins to raise awareness against gun violence - a nice touch from the Academy. Might sound like it was a very political night, but Jimmy never really let it get there. His unique and very funny The Price is Right sketch kept everything in order and running smoothly. We can’t wait to see what next year will bring! Also, on behalf of World Wide Motion Pictures Corporation, we would like to congratulate the entire team of The Shape of Water for winning Best Picture at this year’s 90th Academy Awards!
