Using awards shows for social awareness is useful, important

Within the past year, there have been many people accused of things that were normally seen as taboo. It all started with Harvey Weinstein, when the first of 97 people accused him of sexual harassment and/or rape. This helped people all throughout the performing arts industry open up about their experiences with sexual harassment. The #MeToo movement helped people who experienced sexual harassment find the courage to speak out against these people and provide others with the courage and safety to talk about their experiences.
A major platform for the #MeToo movement and other budding social movements became award shows, as many people watched these shows and they tend to be highly talked about even without any social movement. According to hollywoodreporter.com, the 2017 Oscars were watched by 32.9 million people. According to fortune.com, the 2016 Grammy Awards were watched by 24.95 million people. Finally, according to washingtonpost.com, the 2014 Emmys were watched by a little less than 16 million people. Award shows are a great way to talk about topics that people need to know about. In recent award shows this year, many winners used their speeches to talk about the Me Too, Times Up, and most recently, Never Again movements. In some award shows, however people come together and send an even powerful message through less direct actions.
During the Golden Globe Awards this year, most of the nominees were dressed in all black in solidarity for victims of sexual harassment. During the Grammys, people were wearing all white in honor of the Times Up Movement. This made room for open conversation both on the red carpet and in the media. When being interviewed on the red carpet during the Golden Globes, many nominees used their platform to talk about their experiences and share their support with those who have experienced harassment. Some of the nominees even brought notable activists in the Me Too movement as their dates to the show.
Most recently, the Never Again movement has taken over the media. It was started in the wake of the Parkland shooting, and the survivors led the protests against the government and the National Rifle Association (NRA) to start implementing gun control laws to protect schools and their students. During this year’s Oscars, host Jimmy Kimmel mentioned the Never Again movement during his opening dialogue, alongside the Me Too and Times Up movements. These movements are not the only topics being discussed during these award shows. Over the course of the past years, all the recent award shows have come together and point out the diversity—or lack thereof—of the winners and nominations in each show. This includes the presence of women and people of color in important roles, such as Best Director, that were normally given to white males in the past.
These award shows are doing a great job in using its massive platform to keep people informed about what is going on in the world. The winners and nominees are using their voices to let people know that change needs to happen right now, and that these movements are going to change America for the better. So many people look up to the celebrities being shown at these award shows, and if their idols can so easily spread the message that there is a positive change to come, the viewers will be well informed and make the change that much easier. Hopefully, people will continue to use places such as award shows to keep people aware about the impact Hollywood can have on the social justice in America.