My Guilty Pleasure

I hate to admit it, but award shows are a guilty pleasure of mine. I turned on the Oscars expecting to be irritated by stupidity on Sunday night, and I was actually pleasantly surprised by some of the awesome things that happened at the award show. From #AskHerMore to the discussions about equality, there were some great moments that made me feel a little less guilty about my guilty pleasure.

Now don’t get me wrong, there was a lot that needed to be fixed and addressed- Neil Patrick Harris said it best, “Tonight we honor the best and the whitest”- but, what do you expect when the Academy has an extreme lack of diversity (94% men, 77% white, and a median age of 62 if you want to get technical).

It’s kind of bizarre that the entire day leading up to the actual award show is spent judging the celebrities on what they are wearing. So it is safe to say one of my favorite things that happened is the Ask Her More campaign. It is an awesome movement that encourages reporters on the red carpet to ask the incredibly talented women interesting questions as opposed to who made her dress or what she’s wearing (and thank God they ditched the “mani-cam”). Below is an example of some of the ridiculous questions women get asked when on the red carpet, or discussing their work.

                                       

This year we learned that when you “Ask Her More” we can actually learn a lot. For example, when Julianna Moore was asked about her role in Still Alice, she took the moment to raise awareness for Alzheimer’s disease by saying:

“There’s this misnomer that dementia or Alzheimer’s is a normal condition of aging, and it’s not. It’s a disease-- and a disease without any treatment or cure. It’s the sixth leading cause of death.”

But unfortunately even with this new movement, there were still instances of the women being asked about their outfits. And of course the tremendous amount of articles and shows featuring “The Best and the Worst” are still offensive, considering these people are so much more than the outfits they wear, and if they are happy with what they have on who really has a right to judge them?

The gossip industry loves to pick apart women at these events, and Perez Hilton has no shame in his women bashing. He took the time to point out that he has been disappointed in Kiera Knightley’s maternity wear for the award’s season (seriously??), and gossiped about who had the best skin. These types of media are extremely hurtful to women and young girls because they are encouraging the “Botox Baby” phenomenon and other cosmetic surgeries. Instead of being congratulated on the great things they have accomplished to get them to the awards show, there are people picking apart every part of their body and their style. I feel that this is so harmful because when young girls see such negative comments toward successful women, it may cause them to think that success doesn't really matter, it is all about how you look- thus leading to the use of cosmetic surgery throughout their lives.

Another awesome moment occurred when Patricia Arquette won an award for Best Supporting Actress. She took the time during her speech to discuss the gender pay gap and how it is time for every women in America to have equal rights. (Her comments did spark some controversy though, but I am hopeful it was just a moment of poor word choice). 

(Meryl Streep and I had a similar reaction to her speech)

An additional favorite part of the awards show was John Legend and Common’s performance of Glory, followed by their remarkable acceptance speeches. They brought awareness to the fact that there are more black men under correctional control today than there were under slavery in 1850. I thought this was a great moment because they brought awareness to an issue black men are facing today. 

Hopefully with the help of celebrities like the ones I mentioned and movements like Ask Her More, in the future award shows will become something I don't need to refer to as a "guilty pleasure."