The Oscars 2020 Joaquin Phoenix wins Oscar for 'Joker' | Academy Award for Best Actor
The big news out of Sunday night’s Academy Awards: Psychological thriller/dark comedy “Parasite” made history, becoming the first non-English-language film to capture the best picture prize.
Joaquin Phoenix has been speaking his mind as he’s made the rounds on the awards circuit. During his Golden Globes acceptance speech for his Best Actor win for Joker, he talked about climate change. At last week’s BAFTA awards, he talked about systemic racism in the acting community. If you missed it, here are 15 things to know from the 3½-hour telecast:
Sunday night’s Oscars, where he again won Best Actor, he talked about another enormous societal issue, one that seems to be gaining more visibility recently: the rights of animals.
continue to use our voice for the voiceless. I’ve been thinking a lot about some of the distressing issues that we are facing collectively. I think at times we feel, or were made to feel, that we champion different causes, but for me, I see commonality. I think, whether we’re talking about gender inequality or racism or queer rights or indigenous rights or animal rights, we’re talking about the fight against injustice. We’re talking about the fight against the belief that one nation, one people, one race, one gender or one species has the right to dominate, control and use and exploit another with impunity.
1) The night of ‘Parasite’
The best moment happened at the very end of the show, when “Parasite” won best picture, its fourth prize of the night. After producer Kwak Sin-ae delivered a passionate speech, Oscars producers cut the microphone and turned down the center stage lights, given that the show had already run until 11:30 p.m. The audience was not having it. “Up! Up! Up!” chanted the stars (including Charlize Theron and Tom Hanks).
peer pressure worked! Producers turned the lights back on, and executive producer Miky Lee took the microphone and thanked South Korean filmgoers, whose candid opinions about movies push producers to make great films: “Without you, our Korean film audience, we are not here.”
It was a powerful speech, but what made it stand out from other similar awareness-raising speeches we’ve heard from the Oscar stage was its explicit calling out of speciesism. But rarely have they commanded a platform like Phoenix’s.
Ethicists and advocates have been arguing for a long time that modern factory farming is unconscionable and that animals, like people, deserve to be part of our circle of moral concern.
2) Martin Scorsese’s influence was recognized, even though his film was not
Bong began his acceptance speech for best director, the third of his four awards, by thanking one of his fellow nominees: “When I was young and studying cinema,” Bong said via interpreter, “there was a saying that I carved deep into my heart, which is, ‘The most personal is the most creative.’ That quote is from our great Martin Scorsese.”
While Bong went on to thank the other three nominees as well — Todd Phillips (“Joker”), Sam Mendes (“1917”) and Quentin Tarantino (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” who Bong said “always put my films on his list”) — the crowd only rose for Scorsese. But the standing ovation was all the prolific director received, as “The Irishman,” his mob drama nominated for 10 awards, was completely shut out.
3) The best actor and actress delivered winding speeches
4) Janelle Monáe’s musical number
5) Steve Martin and Chris Rock delivered their version of a host’s monologue
6) A focus on women (who were snubbed)
7) ‘Cats’ got a moment in the spotlight
8) The supporting actor/actress speeches
9) ‘Hair Love’ made history
10) Maya Rudolph and Kristen Wiig basically auditioned to host the Oscars next year
11) Eminem was there?!
12) Cynthia Erivo’s performance
13) People of color performed songs while not actually being nominated
14) Taika Waititi also made Oscars history
15) The memes
By including “animal rights” in the same sentence as a litany of other pressing issues — gender inequality, racism, queer rights, and indigenous rights — Phoenix elevated concern for the welfare of animals as something no less important than caring for fellow human beings.
Less than 5 percent of Americans are vegetarian and vegan, and it is still the case that many have barely heard the moral case for the end of factory farming. This is definitely a topic that does not appear on national TV very often.
Even a committed vegetarian like former presidential candidate Sen. Corey Booker (D-NJ) could not give a reason to end the animals that were fully traumatized during a primitive presidential debate (though to be fair For he put forward an ambitious plan. To end factory farming).
I’m no Oscar historian, but that’s probably the most detailed jeremiad about the plight of animals on the Academy’s stage ever. (It should be noted that this wasn’t the first time Phoenix has mentioned the issue — he gave a shout-out to the Hollywood Foreign Press at the Golden Globes for serving a vegan meal at the ceremony.)
That animal rights was the issue mentioned on one platform as big as it shows that something is changing in the animal rights fight.
Over the years, states have passed laws prohibiting some of the worst cruelties of factory farming, and courts overturned laws banning undercover investigations on factory farms and limiting the sale of plant-based meat substitutes. Have given. Meatless burger sales are increasing - even among meat eaters - suggesting that a lot of Americans are interested in eating products sourced from factory farms and slaughterhouses.
The life of animals - about whom we slaughter every year - is worth considering other issues on which Phoenix has spoken. It was good to see it happen at the Oscars.
