Everything I need to know I learned from the 87th Academy Awards

Oh, the Oscars. They are a good time, always. Who doesn’t love star-studded events, beautiful gowns, moving emotional speeches, and unexpected events? No one! We all love it. Well, the 87th Academy Awards were last night, and of course, I learned some lessons to share. EINTKILF The 87th Academy Awards1. Hashtags matter.  Of course I’m not a monster so I watched a ton of the Academy Awards pre-shows. Watching the awards is nothing without watching the red carpet event — yes, even from like noon until the show. The best part of this year’s red carpet event was the use of the hashtag #askhermore. Instead of talking to women about JUST what they were wearing, we got awesome questions like 1) what are you working on, and 2) what roles are you working on? It’s great that hashtags can make a difference on the red carpet, and I’m so happy about it. 2. The lesser-knowns give some of the speeches.  When Ida won Best Foreign Film, the speech was one of the more moving speeches of the sorta-dull night. The Pawel Pawlikowski directed film offered one of the most incredible speeches of the award show. Though the music attempted to play them off pretty quickly, they stood strong and made a solid memory for us. And Graham Moore’s speech on staying weird and true to yourself was cry-worthy. 3. Call your mother.  Though I was admittedly rooting for Ethan Hawke for Best Supporting Actor, JK Simmons gave a riveting speech that focused only on his family. He didn’t mention actors, producers, agents, or anyone else, which was surprisingly refreshing. The effort Simmons put into making sure everyone called their parents (no texts!) was really sweet. I know I at least received an, “I’m waiting for my phone call” text from my mother. 4. Crisis Hotlines are important.  When Ellen Gooseberg Kent and Dana Perry won for Crisis Hotlines (Documentary Short Subject), we were also awarded with one of the best speeches of the night. Though Doc Short Subject is not necessarily one of the highest anticipated awards of the night, the speech about suicide was incredibly important. 5. Equal pay is worthy of screen time.  I was happily rooting for Patricia Arquette to win Best Supporting Actor, but her speech was arguably the best part of the night anyway. Arquette took her moment to shout out the fact that women deserve equal pay. And not only was that amazing enough, but the fact that Meryl Streep and Jennifer Lopez were emphatic? The world. 6. Everything is awesome.  Though I was rooting for “Glory” to win the Oscar (and it did, and duh), the performance of “Everything is Awesome” was one of the best parts of the whole show. Tegan and Sara paired with The Lonely Island on the Academy Award stage? Incredible. And that is not even mentioning the fact that the performance included handing out Lego Oscars to people like OPRAH WINFREY. 7. Surprises still happen.  Eddie Redmayne won Best Actor over Michael Keaton, and though I adore Keaton, I was overjoyed to see Redmayne win. I was blown away by his performance as Stephen Hawking, and in general, who doesn’t love him? 8. Alzheimer’s matters. 
If you don’t know much about Alzheimer’s Disease, or if you don’t know much about Still Alice, or if you don’t know much about Julianne Moore? Watch her movie. And watch her speech. And know Julianne Moore. 9. Black Lives Matter.  John Legend and Common’s speech for winning Best Original Song for “Glory” was one of the most inspirational speeches that we have ever heard at the Academy Awards. Though we have hopefully all heard the song “Glory,” the fact that Common even mentioned Ferguson on that stage, while putting his hands up? I can’t even express how huge that was to me, to humanity, and to the world. Congratulations to all of the winners! Featured image via