BEST ACADEMY AWARD SPEECHES EVERYONE MUST LISTEN
The 94th Academy Award is here. On March 28, 2022, the world will have another opportunity to see some of the finest performances recognized by the prestigious Academy Award & Film fraternity. Some people get confused & you might be thinking too What is the correct term for this award? Is it an Oscar award or an Academy award? This is a global annual confusion. However, both are the same.
The much formal name of the Oscar Award is “Academy Award for merit”. The first academy award ceremony took place in the year 1929, but the ceremony was the first broadcast on radio in 1930. Who could have imagined that the first-ever Academy Award ceremony to be televised was in the year 1953?
Today, we watch the Academy Awards live on television. But, for the first ceremony, winners were announced to the media three months earlier. Much has been changed since the first Oscar awards however, the thing that is constant and much-awaited every year is the acceptance speech by the winners. The academy award podium is a global platform where the world waits to hear your words from you. therefore, the winners have a huge responsibility that lies on their shoulders to convey their emotions, powerful messages & inspiration across the globe.
Following is my selection of some of the best speeches in the Academy Awards.
The Powerful Academy Award Acceptance
Patricia Arquette at the 2015 Oscars
Patricia Arquette won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her phenomenal performance in Boyhood. Her memorable acceptance speech at the 2015 Academy Awards left an unforgettable mark on the hearts of people. Arquette drew attention to close the gender wage gap, with “To every woman who gave birth to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights. It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America.”
Frances McDormand at the Academy Award in 2016
Frances McDormand won the Best Actress Award for Nomadland at the 93rd Academy Award. She urged everyone in the room to embrace inclusive casting and used the wonderful opportunity to deliver a beautiful yet strong message. She said:
“Look around, ladies and gentlemen, because we all have stories to tell and projects we need to be financed,” McDormand said. “Don’t talk to us about it at the parties tonight. Invite us into your office in a couple of days, or you can come to ours, whatever suits you best, and we’ll tell you all about them. I have two words to leave with you tonight, ladies and gentlemen: ‘inclusion rider.’”
Leonardo Decaprio’s exceptional Academy Award Speech in 2016
The much-awaited Oscar Award kept us praying for years. The fans & fellows of Leonardo Decaprio were dancing with joy. He got a standing ovation at the Academy Award ceremony as he wins the first Oscar for ‘The Revenant’. He was calm & charming as usual when he witnessed such love from his fraternity. DiCaprio delivered a much-needed message for conserving the ecosystem & protecting our planet. He said, “Making The Revenant was about man’s relationship to the natural world. A world that we collectively felt in 2015 was the hottest year in recorded history. Our production needed to move to the southern tip of this planet just to be able to find snow. Climate change is real, it is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.”
Halle Berry’s overwhelming Oscar Win Speech 2002
The first woman of color to receive an Academy Award ever. The exceptional performer Halle Berry lost her composure when her name was announced as the winner of best actress for “Monster’s Ball,” in the year 2002.
She was crying with joy & ecstatic warmth. Her memorable victory brought many to tears. Amidst gasping & crying, she managed to start with:
“Oh my God. Oh my God. I’m sorry. This moment is so much bigger than me. This moment is for Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll. It’s for the women that stand beside me, Jada Pinkett, Angela Bassett, Vivica Fox. And it’s for every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened. Thank you. I’m so honored. I’m so honored. And I thank the Academy for choosing me to be the vessel for which His blessing might flow.”
Joaquin Phoenix’s Impactful Speech at the Oscars in 2020
Who could have expected otherwise? He was the second Joker to be bestowed upon the honor of the Academy Award. Phoenix’s best actor Oscar, after Heath Ledger, won best supporting actor for his role as the Joker in The Dark Knight. He was impressive, eloquent & persuasive when he begin his Academy Award acceptance speech.
He called out injustices in the world and thanked people for giving him a second chance. He urged to use the opportunity to become a voice for the voiceless. He talked about social injustices, gender inequalities, & animal rights in the most expressive way.
He said:
“We feel entitled to artificially inseminate a cow, and when she gives birth, we steal her baby, even though her cries of anguish are unmistakable. Then we take her milk that’s intended for her calf, and we put it in our coffee and our cereal. And I think we fear the idea of personal change because we think that we have to sacrifice something, to give something up, but human beings, at our best, are so inventive and creative and ingenious. And I think that when we use love and compassion as our guiding principles, we can create, develop and implement systems of change that are beneficial to all sentient beings and to the environment.”
He concluded the speech with his Brother’s lyrics, ‘Run to the rescue with love, and peace will follow.’”
The Misfortune in the Oscar Awards
Jennifer Lawrence Falls at the Oscar
When the winner for Best Actress was announced in 2013, the winner Jennifer Lawrence tripped on the stairs while she was on her way to collect her honor. The audience was so supportive that the ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ actress began her acceptance speech as “Thank you. You guys are just standing up because you feel bad that I fell and that’s really embarrassing, but thank you. This is nuts.”
The Surreal Mix-Up
The most unfortunate moment hit the Oscar Award when La La Land was mistakenly announced as Best Picture. The Cast & Team was overjoyed when they came to know the real winner. Moonlight has won the best picture Oscar in 2017.
Faye Dunaway named La La Land as the year’s best picture at the end, only to be corrected a few minutes later. The La La Land Team was overjoyed when the disturbance suddenly clenched the stage. Audible gasps were heard & they had to show the card while announcing Moonlight as the winner.
This year, the Academy revealed Lady Gaga & Zoë Kravitz to be among the presenters of the Oscar Award.
So, the most prestigious and significant awards in the entertainment industry are here. This award is considered a lifetime identifier of struggle and achievement by a person. No matter if the greatest of performances & creativity get acknowledged by the jury or not. It doesn’t matter if some epitome of the film industry does not believe in the award or criticize it for being partial. The Academy Award still is the Everest of awards in the world of entertainment.
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