It may have been the lack of militant cuckolds at this year’s ceremony, but generally speaking, the 95th annual Academy Awards were a pleasant viewing experience.
Sure, there was some of the usual “Hollywoke” hoopla, but there can’t not be in order for an institution like the entertainment industry to continue existing in its current form; it can’t help but be ideological.
And, of course, there were some more offensive situations, like when Donnie Yen, an actual operative of the Chinese Communist Party, was given prominent airtime to address the American public during what is historically one of the nation’s more impactful moments in popular culture. But that shouldn’t distract us from the real message of the evening.
And that message was that dudes rock. This year’s Oscars were a night prominently featuring moments in which the fellas could celebrate the fellas.
Ke Huy Quan — perhaps previously best known for his role as Short Round in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” — won Best Supporting Actor for his role in “Everything Everywhere All At Once.”
“My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp. And somehow I ended up here, on Hollywood’s biggest stage,” he said in his acceptance speech. “They say stories like this only happen in the movies. I cannot believe it’s happening to me. This is the American dream.”
Quan’s family fled Vietnam as the tide of oppressive communism swept over it. They were separated for extended periods of time and forced to live in separate parts of the world from each other because they refused to submit to tyrannical forces. Prior to his nomination, many in entertainment — including Quan himself — thought his career was over, but through a commitment to his craft, he proved himself and the naysayers wrong.
And Brendan Fraser officially solidified his comeback by winning the Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale.”
Fraser accepted the award with grace by expressing his gratitude to Aronofosky for “throwing me a creative lifeline and hauling me aboard.”
This was Fraser’s first-ever Oscar nomination and marked a triumphant return to the big screen — something which millions of people online have been rooting for, for years — after being allegedly sexually assaulted by the former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in the early aughts.
It’s endearing to see men like Quan and Fraser earn some of the highest accolades in their industry after so many had already written them off. Both men had been considered long past their prime, and both had suffered setbacks that they themselves considered insurmountable.
But like their respective characters, these men were able to overcome the obstacles presented to them and move forward with their lives.
Samuel Mangold-Lenett is a staff editor at The Federalist. His writing has been featured in the Daily Wire, Townhall, The American Spectator, and other outlets. He is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. Follow him on Twitter @Mangold_Lenett.
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