You Can Do Anything, Anywhere, but it Doesn’t have to be All At Once.

The 95th annual Oscars award ceremony was held this year on March 12, 2023 and was anticipated to be a great show after the embarrassment of the 94th Oscars and movie releases of 2021 but with a very strong outing in 2022 this was a season to be excited for. The show was headlined by movies like Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Whale, Avatar the Way of Water, The Banshees of Inisherin, and many other films that will revolutionize the future of the film industry. But these films were not the story of the night, it was the comebacks and celebrations of beloved actors and actresses such as Ke Huy Quan, Brendan Fraser, Michelle Yeoh and Jaime Lee Curtis who all won their first Oscars after many years in the film industry. The deserving actors finally got their big break late in their careers which touched many people around the world. Ke Huy Quan, Michelle Yeoh, and Jaime Lee Curtis all won major awards from their performances in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Brendan Fraser won “Best Actor in a Leading Role” for his incredible performance in The Whale. Many more deserving people in the movie industry were recognized, which overall led to a great ceremony. These comebacks brought the Oscars back to what it once was, if not better because it helped the viewers believe they can do anything, anywhere, and it doesn’t have to be all at once.

“…we worked together on a movie called ‘Encino Man in 91’” (Quan).

“We’re still here. ‘Ke, we’re still here’” (Fraser).

Let’s take a deep dive into Ke Huy Quan. Mr. Quan came into the film industry as a child actor working with Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark which was a hit and a joy for Mr. Quan. Following this he got almost no roles and was forgotten in the film industry. It led him down a path of small studio and unimportant roles which discouraged him until his wife, Echo, kept his spirits up and he found the role of Waymand in Everything Everywhere All at Once changing his life for good.

Mr. Quan said during his acceptance speech, “Dreams are something you have to believe in. I almost gave up on mine. To all of you out there, please keep your dreams alive…” and that moves me to my point; your aspirations and joy for what you do should never have a time limit and success is different in everyone’s view. Everyone has a joy for something different and that love is unique to the individual and no one can take that away from you. It is one of the beautiful things in life where everyone on this planet is their own person with their own views on the world. Although the redemption of the awards is a beautiful spectacle, it is the work and the joy that brings the true reward.

Moving forward, Ke Huy Quan was not the only highlighted actor of the night with Brendan Fraser also getting recognition for his masterfully acted performance in The Whale. It was also a role that spoke to him with Mr. Fraser being perceived as something of a loser in the movie industry for most of his career. Yet even with all the adversity that Mr. Fraser faced, he found an ability to redeem his career.

His ability to believe in himself and his talent brought together what could be interpreted as bringing together the main things in life and connecting them all to become the best person he can. The love for what he does and all the people around him pushed him to be better and never give up on his dream. In many ways that was the vision between the roles that were awarded to these actors and their individual lives as their redemptions proved the values in the lines of the scripts that were so important to them and their dreams that the recognition they finally achieved in their storied careers was all worth the wait. Which in the end should remind us all the real lessons learned from these wonderful movies, to connect to who and what you love, to do the work to make successful connections between the beautiful intertwining that life has to offer.

Overall, your love and passions that heavily affect you and your views on the world should never be discouraged by someone but rather lifted up from the people you love. Not only should you continue to grow as a person while doing and loving who and what you want, but you should always do the same for others, evident in Brendan Fraser and Ke Huy Quan.