The Academy Awards, more commonly known as the Oscars, are among the most prestigious awards in the film industry, rewarding artistic and technical excellence in cinema. The 2025 Oscars were filled with unexpected wins and emotional speeches, recognizing the outstanding talent among the film industry.
This year, the Oscars had an estimated 19.69 million viewers, largely due to the public’s excitement for the night’s live performances. The ceremony opened with Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande performing a mix of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from “The Wizard of Oz”, “Home” from “The Wiz” and “Defying Gravity” from “Wicked.” The audience was also highly impressed by British singer Raye, Doja Cat and Lisa’s collaborative tribute to James Bond. Overall, all the enthusiasm from the opening performances set the stage for a great night of awards.
In terms of awards, the Oscars have five major awards: including ‘Best Picture,’ ‘Best Actor,’ ‘Best Actress,’ ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Screenplay.’ “Anora,” directed by Sean Baker, won four out of five of these awards, including ‘Best Picture,’ ‘Best Actress,’ ‘Best Director’ and ‘Best Screenplay’. Such large wins for “Anora” were monumental considering it was an independent film with a considerably small budget of six million dollars.
While there were many well-deserved Oscar awards, one controversial win was Zoe Saldaña’s award for ‘Best Supporting Actress’ in “Emilia Perez.” Most people felt that Saldaña’s performance as Rita Mora Castro in “Emilia Perez” was lacking in comparison to her other roles.
“Zoe Saldaña has done so many great movies like ‘Avatar,’ but she didn’t get an award for that,” Lambert sophomore Nethra Pravin Kumar explained. “Her acting for ‘Avatar’ was really good, and it was one of the best things I’ve ever seen.”
The collective consensus regarding this award suggests that “Emilia Perez” as a whole did not fully showcase the depth of Saldaña’s acting skills, believing the movie did not give this specific role the proper platform to succeed. Due to this, fans believe the award for “Best Supporting Actress” would have been better to present to another candidate, such as Ariana Grande for “Wicked”.
“Compared to ‘Emilia Perez,’ ‘Wicked’ was well received by the public, so it should have gotten more [awards] because it got more attention.” Lambert senior Katherine Yun argued.
In the end, the issue came down to how effectively the movies were marketed. “Wicked” was widely recognized and beloved, compared to “Emilia Perez” which was less known due to the reach of the marketing. This difference in popularity is part of what sparked the controversy with the amount of wins “Emilia Perez” has received, leading to the negative response of Zoe Saldaña’s win.
Overall, the 2025 Oscars truly showcased incredible talent, despite some of the negative feedback from the audience. As the 2024 awards season came to a close, with its exciting performances and well-received win, the Oscars left a lasting impression on both the film industry and its viewers.
