Social causes at Oscars
While the Oscars have always been a platform for socially-minded actors and filmmakers to espouse the causes they believe in (think Sean Penn, Patricia Arquette in previous years), the 88th Academy Awards saw many more of the winners come forward and talk about the issues they hoped to raise awareness about. So if the presenter for the night, Chris Rock, kept the focus on the racism row that has dogged the prestigious award ceremony this season, others like Leonardo DiCaprio and costume designer Jenny Beavan chose to talk about environmental issues.
Beavan, who won the Best Costume Design prize for her work on Mad Max: Fury Road, referenced the film’s apocalyptic setting and said, “It could be horribly prophetic, if we’re not kinder to each other and if we don’t stop polluting our atmosphere. It could happen.”
DiCaprio also used his first Oscar win (after six previous nominations) to shine a light on climate change (which he is a vociferous campaigner for).
“Making The Revenant was about man’s relationship to the natural world. A world that we collectively felt in 2015 as the hottest year in recorded history,” Leo said. “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. We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters, but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people out there who would be most affected by this. For our children’s children, and for those people out there whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of greed... Let us not take this planet for granted.”
But the environment wasn’t the only thing on the winners’ minds. Sam Smith stood up for the rights of LGBTQ people when he dedicated his Best Original Song Oscar (for Writing’s On The Wall from Spectre) to the community. “I stand here tonight as a proud gay man and I hope that we can all stand as equals one day,” Sam said, winning affirmation for his views from entertainers like Ellen DeGeneres, among others.
The statement of the night, however, was made by Lady Gaga, who channelled her own experience of being raped as a teen into her song Til It Happens To You. The song is part of the documentary The Hunting Ground, about rape on college campuses. She was accompanied on stage by several survivors of abuse.