By: Carly Woolley |Staff Writer|
Some of the most memorable award shows have come and gone, but nothing compared to this year’s Oscars.
The 86th Academy Awards was held on March 2, at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles.
The Academy Awards, commonly known as The Oscars honored the actors, technical achievements, and films of 2013.
Television personality Ellen DeGeneres hosted the show for the second time, previously hosting the 79th ceremony in 2007.
Ellen successfully brought her infectious personality to life, and kept the audience actively engaged in every aspect of the ceremony.
This year’s show continued on its climb to higher ratings, reaching the highest rating in ten years with an average audience of 43 million viewers in the United States.
The Academy Awards has continually been recognized as the year’s number 2 television event behind the Super Bowl.
Surprisingly enough, many award shows have received an overwhelming amount of rating resurgence, many have attributed this to the rising popularity of a so-called “social television” trend.
Viewers were given the opportunity to actively participate in television programs through multiple social media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
DeGeneres took full advantage of this recent trend by establishing the goal of creating the most-retweeted photo ever on Twitter during the show.
Ellen posed for a spur of the moment “selfie” with Bradley Cooper, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lawrence, Jared Leto, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Kevin Spacey, Meryl Streep, Channing Tatum, Lupita Nyong’o and her brother Peter, which she posted to Twitter.
This post alone set a new record for retweets, breaking the record previously held by President Barack Obama
Twitter reported, “The photo registered upwards of 14.7 million messages about the telecast on Sunday night.”
Student Marisa Damron said, “I thought Ellen DeGeneres made the show more exciting than it has ever been in the past, and I must admit I was one of the 14 million people who retweeted her photo.”
On a different note, one must not forget that the Academy Awards is not intended to be about the host, it’s supposed to be about the awards.
“Gravity” won seven awards, the most for the ceremony, including Best Director for Alfonso Cuarón.
“12 Years a Slave” won three awards, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Lupita Nyong’o.
“Dallas Buyers Club” also won three awards, including Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor, for Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto.
Other winners included “Frozen” and “The Great Gatsby,” with two awards each.
The biggest surprise of the night was Mathew McConaughey taking Best Actor from fan favorite, Leoardo DiCaprio.
DiCaprio has been nominated for an Academy Award three times in past years, all of which he has gone home empty handed.
Many fans have said this would be his year, with his fourth nomination rolling in and his top-notch performance in “The Wolf of Wall Street” film.
Student Jennifer Baldwin said, “I still can’t believe Leoardo DiCaprio didn’t win best actor, he’s worked so hard over the years and I think he really deserves it.”
DeGeneres continued to keep the audience upbeat and entertained throughout the night, and one of her best moments involved a pizza delivery man arriving with several pies to hand deliver to several A-list stars in the front of the audience.
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