Viola, the Speech of The Night
Monday, February 27, 2017 at 2:05PM 
Chris here. That shockeroo at the end of the night wasn’t the evening’s only fireworks. But the kind of awe I’m thinking recalling is the kind that we watch the Oscars for: the acceptance speeches. Viola Davis’s in particular.
Viola’s Fences win was already such a forgone conclusion (as you may have heard during our Smackdown) that the lead-up to her category felt the tiniest bit underwhelming, in a way that it mightn’t have been if *ahem* she’d been nominated in Lead. But forgive me, readers, for momentarily losing sight that the best part of the Oscars has everything to do with after the name is called: the speech. Hers was the speech we were waiting for, both for the actress herself and as people who relish in awards speeches.
And was it ever one for the ages, sober and uplifting while recalling the themes that led to her winning performance. “You know, there’s one place that all the people with the greatest potential are gathered... the graveyard.” It’s the candid performer telling us what made them an artist, but also demanding representation for the unheard. For a night that ended up championing previously untold stories and dreams both fulfilled and unfilled, consider her speech the night’s gorgeous thesis.
A master class in gratitude and passion. Can we give her another Oscar? No, I mean, like now, today.
Reader Comments (59)
^ it's also just a shining example of privilege. Only a white person could ever possibly be "color blind" because they won't experience discrimination based on their race. A person of color will always experience it in some capacity, so they will never be afforded the opportunity to be "color blind." It's also just not real, and a cop-out way to completely avoid the elephant in the room we call society.
Don't get me started on Morgan Freeman's stupid comments on the matter...lol.
I didn't like her speech all that much.
I wonder if Viola has any interest in playwriting. She obviously worships August Wilson and the greats and is creatively inclined toward writing.
As others have posted, her tendency to go big and dramatic with acceptance speeches is a little uneven. The problem is that she tries to serve high dramaturgy every time she hits a podium and it's sometimes a little...much...for the context.
I do think she's full of ideas and has a gift for expressing them in words. I'm not sure if 90 second speeches are really the right medium to share all the robust, complicated messages she tries to distill. That's why the graveyard metaphor is a little ickkkkk when you hear it on the Oscar stage...it doesn't really have space to breathe up there.
Just a positive thought for a thread that's gone a little negative. My initial critique of the speech still stands...I just retroactively feel like part of a pile-on and there are certainly nice things to say about Viola's awards show style. She's just worn it out (and to be fair winning an Oscar is a fine place to wear it out).
Ohhh! I just love to stir up controversy and y'all acted just as I thought ( hoped ) you would!!!
LMAO love her but the speech is too self aggrandizing
I don't think there is any harm in aspiring to a colour-blind society, albeit one in which we nevertheless continue to celebrate multiculturalism and are informed of the various unique histories of each racial group, but that does depend on us all, without exception, being 'colour-blind', and clearly, in a society in which black men are more likely to be incarcerated and stopped (and indeed, shot) by police, on account of their skin colour, to give one example, we are still a long, long way off from such a utopia.
So, as it stands, the unfortunate reality is that race, as with gender, sexuality, physical and mental health/ability, and socioeconomic background, does shape our experiences and, thus, who we are (unless we were raised in a bubble), and those of us who are white should therefore acknowledge our inherent privilege, at least where race is concerned. That said, it should be done in a way that is not condescending (the danger otherwise is of making individuals feel uncomfortable, despite the best intentions), and for most regular intents and purposes treating people in entirely equal, or 'colour-blind', terms is the right thing, whilst ensuring that we continue to challenge and correct an overall social system that is inherently racist, through measures like AA and diversity awareness programs.
@Max - gosh, is pretending to be a troll your attempt to diffuse the situation? I can assure you that precisely no-one is reconsidering their views on race because of your earlier comments. Though everybody is definitely reconsidering YOUR views on race because of your earlier comments.
Back to Viola's speech--I've noticed that this season, at least in the awards I've seen her accept, she has never recognized or acknowledged the other nominees.
Viola's Oscar acceptance speech was every fucking thing, baby! I understood every sentiment perfectly and agreed with it all. People are really trying it finding fault in it. But whatever: you know who you fucking are and why you're "offended." And yes, that was clearly a Lead Actress speech. What could have been, sigh.