From the annual Academy Awards to the Grammy Awards, this year’s award season was filled with surprise victories and exciting performances. Here are the highlights of this year’s shows that capture that essence of the season.
To kick off this year’s award season were the Golden Globes on January 11. The movies Boyhood, Birdman, The Imitation Game, The Grand Budapest Hotel, American Sniper, The Theory of Everything, and many others received a great amount of attention for their artistic success. When it came to the Golden Globes, the 12- year effort to film Boyhood paid off, as this film was named Best Drama Motion Picture. This film used the same actors and actresses to depict the life of a boy from childhood all the way to adulthood. Meanwhile, The Grand Budapest Hotel, which illustrates a lobby boy who is forced to deal with a murder in his hotel, was named Best Musical or Comedy Motion Picture.
For television shows, The Affair won the Best Drama TV Series and Transparent won the Best Musical or Comedy TV Series. The Golden Globes was filled with winners and hearty laughs; in the beginning, the show’s hosts, Tina Fey and Amy Poeher, even poked fun at various starts through their game of “Would You Rather?” along with the controversy surrounding The Interview!
The Grammy Awards took place on February 8 to honor outstanding achievements in the music industry. To everyone’s surprise, Beck’s album, Morning Phase, won Album of the Year. Many may consider the moment when Kanye West almost interrupted his acceptance speech to be the highlight of the show. Despite allowing Beck to finish his speech, Kanye West later spoke about how Beck should not have been given this award. On the other hand, Sam Smith stole the show, winning for Best New Artist, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal Album. The Grammy Awards were also filled with many great performances from Beyonce, John Legend and Common, Sia, Kanye West, Hozier, Ariana Grande, Pharell Williams, and many others.
To end this year’s award season were the Academy Awards on February 22. Many people are claiming that this year’s show was the most political one to date, as many Oscar winners chose to share their views on current issues for their acceptance speeches. Patricia Arquette won for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film, Boyhood. In her speech, she brought to attention the unequal wages for men and women. Her speech generated much enthusiasm with some members of the audience while it also initiated some controversy. Meanwhile, the Alejandro González Iñárritu was named Best Director for his film, Birdman. He used this special acknowledgement to talk about immigration reform. The Imitation Game, is about a man, Alan Turing, who builds a machine to decipher Nazi codes during World War II, but when the authorities learned he was gay, he is sent to prison and never receives credit for his work. In addition, the award for Best Writing Adapted Screenplay was given to Graham Moore for his work on this film. His heartfelt speech included a message about suicide, as he had attempted suicide when he was only 16. Meanwhile, in contrast to the outcome of the Golden Globes selection of Boyhood, this year’s Academy Award for Best Picture went to Birdman. Eddie Redmayne won Best Actor for his role in the Theory of Everything, and Julianne Moore won Best Actress for her role in Still Alice. Both of these films depicted the downward spiral of various people as they were diagnosed with diseases. Redmayne plays scientist Stephen Hawking, as he falls in love with his fellow student, Jane Wilde, diagnosed with ALS. Moore plays Dr. Alice Howland, a linguistics professor who is diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. There was much anticipation leading up to these awards, not only to see the victors, but also to see Neil Patrick Harris as the host, who opened the show with a musical number and mimicked a famous scene from the film, Birdman.
This year’s award season was filled with many surprises and much excitement. From the Grammy Awards to the Academy Awards, people saw great performances, political statements were made, and recognition was awarded to the most talented artists of the year.
