By Kyler Jacobson, Staff Writer
With the 95th Annual Academy Awards concluded, there has been much discussion surrounding many of the categories and they’re winners. One of the most debated wins was that of the Best Supporting Actress category.
Included in the category were Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu from “Everything Everywhere All at Once”, Hong Chau from “The Whale”, Angela Bassett of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”, and Kerry Condon of “The Banshees of Inisherin.” Curtis took home the trophy and in a passionate speech stated, “I know it looks like I’m standing up here by myself, but I’m not; I am hundreds of people.” Curtis reflected on her long career and the help she received along the way, especially from those within the horror genre whom the Academy rarely notices..
Although it’s nice to see how far she’s come, it’s hard for those feelings to not be overshadowed by the disappointment felt by some of the losses. Spanning a 37-year-long acting career, Angela Bassett has proven that she’s worked long and hard for a prestigious award like this, just like Curtis, but even with a more empowering and stronger performance in her film, she was unable to pick up the trophy.
Most disappointing of all losses though was the fact that Curtis beat her co-star Stephanie Hsu. Hsu put on an impressive, standout performance from the moment she stepped on screen. She was able to reliably convey her emotions to the audience that made her characters’ decisions understandable, whether that be for her protagonist or antagonist role. You could feel the impact she had on the film every time she was featured on screen, which was an effect shared by her co-stars Michelle Yeoh and Ke Hey Quan (who both took home Oscars) but wasn’t something much shared when considering Jamie Lee Curtis’ character.
Her character was secondary to the other characters and their family relations; she was there for comedic relief and to create a bit of conflict in the Wang family’s business. The antagonist role that Hsu played exemplified everything the film stood for, the belief that if nothing makes sense, we must then appreciate the people and moments in our life to the fullest we can. Without Hsu’s characters and the presence of both, these messages wouldn’t be able to be displayed as strongly, with the fact that her disconnection with her mother (played by Michelle Yeoh) exhibited how important it is to appreciate your loved ones when everything else goes to chaos.
It’s mostly crazy that Curtis picked up the win when we consider that “Everything Everywhere All at Once” specifically highlighted a Chinese-American immigrant family who’s dealing with a divorce, an LGBTQ+ teenager who struggles to fit in, and a failing business that’s being audited by the IRS; but even with all of that, the Academy granted the Oscar to the white IRS inspector who added little to the plot.