The Moments From Oscars Past That Still Bring Us Joy

I tend to keep a few square feet in the back corner of my brain’s storage room vacant for the pure ecstasy that is the Oscars live telecast each year. It’s not so much that I expect Hollywood’s annual navel-gazing event to produce anything truly groundbreaking. If anything, I fear the jokes are bound to grow more stale with each passing category; even the Academy itself knows its viewership is declining at an unsustainable rate, going so far as to consider a heinous TikTok-ified format to restore its relevance. And, more often than not, the Academy Awards are quite a snooze of an affair: Wretched Chanel gowns. Teeth so brightened by Crest Whitestrips they glow in the dark. White hands delivering Oscars into more white hands.

But there’s something about the magical serendipity of it all—the fact that at any point the preeminent awards show might go careening off the rails due to a tasteless joke, a deafening slap, or a Best Picture gaffe so egregious that you may never again be able to watch a film like La La Land without experiencing an awkward shiver up your spine. And once in a blue moon or so, the ceremony gifts us exactly that: a purely unscripted moment worthy of an Oscar of its own.

In honor of such kismet, the Jezebel staff has rounded up the moments we can’t stop thinking about from Oscars past that still spark joy—whether that joy be a deliciously cringeworthy hiccup, an acceptance speech so genuine it dazzles, or an audience so far up their own arses that they fail to realize the joke was always on them. Live from the Jezebel offices, join us as we honor Hollywood’s best and brightest…and its worst and most idiotic, too.

The 95th Academy Awards are Sunday, March 12 at 8 p.m. ET, and will be broadcast on ABC.

The bedlam that broke out once it was clear that Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty had announced the wrong Best Picture winner at the 2017 Oscars is the reason that I watch live TV. What gorgeous chaos! It felt like time itself had been temporarily hijacked because a legendary actor just…made shit up. I know people are very sensitive about this, and felt that Moonlight, a Black queer movie, had been deprived of its moment. (Adding insult to injury was the La La Land producer Fred Berger, the third to deliver a speech on his losing movie’s behalf, who was fully aware of the mistake when he took the mic.)

But I don’t know... think about all the Best Picture winners that have been forgotten as films, which means their winning moments are even less remembered (when’s the last time you thought about Million Dollar Baby or Dances with Wolves?). Moonlight’s win will never be forgotten! It’s an iconic moment! Plus, all the movies that lose the trophy do so in an implicit manner—their names aren’t called, and the loss is easily swept under the rug. It’s an honor to be nominated, but La La Land is the only Best Picture loser to have its cast and crew brought to the stage so that it could lose in front of the entire world. Incredible. Fuck that movie! —Rich Juzwiak

Merely by the act of existing, Cher, high priestess of charisma that she is, brings me joy. That she won an Oscar while wearing a naked revenge dress (she’d already suffered a couple Academy snubs) for playing the indomitable Loretta Castorini opposite a wolfish Nicolas Cage in the sublime 1987 film Moonstruck sends me…to the moon.

It’s not just her speech, the first word of which is “Uh,” or how that’s followed by “now I want to really say something” and a wild cackle, and then Cher modestly thanking some nice folks, including fellow Best Actress nominee Meryl Streep. It’s also how, when Paul Newman first reads Cher’s name on the card, Streep leaps from her seat to cheer for her. It’s the knowing nods that other nominees Holly Hunter and Glenn Close offer. It’s Cher’s beatific grin, how her cheekbones jut up towards the heavens, as she takes the moment in. It’s how, with a regal toss of her shawl, which (correctly) does nothing to cover her nakedness, she jangles her way to the stage to accept her statue. It’s how she loses an earring on the way, but by the power vested in Cher, this lopsidedness works.

And finally, it’s how Cher ends her speech on a vulnerable note: “I don’t think that this means I am somebody, but I guess I’m on my way.” You better believe it. —Sarah Rense

The Oscars made the oddest play for viewers of comic book movies when it announced the Oscar Fan Favorite Movie Moment as “The Flash Entering the Speed Force.” If you haven’t seen the Zack Snyder cut of The Justice League, will that make sense to you? No. I know this because it didn’t make sense to me either, when it was announced during the beleaguered ceremony last year. But now, I can joyfully point to “The Flash Entering the Speed Force” as a sort of fever dream. Where were you when you learned The Flash can enter the Speed Force? —Caitlin Cruz

I’m sorry, but there is no better meme-d moment than the mysterious Adele Dazeem of 2014 Oscars infamy. John Travolta had taken the stage to introduce Idina Menzel, known for playing Elphaba in the original Broadway cast of Wicked. That year, the singer and actor was to sing “Let It Go,” the breakout song from the Oscar-winning animated film Frozen. “Please welcome the wickedly talented, one and only,” Travolta begins, “Adele Dazeem.”

Whomst?? I mean, Travolta was correct in that there is only one Adele Dazeem, although she is famously a figment of his imagination and not the decorated woman walking onstage. I relish this moment! I love how Travolta enunciates “WI-ckedly”—almost straight out of a Family Guy scene. I love how he goes into the name so confidently, then wavers halfway through “Dazeem” as he realizes what’s coming out of his mouth is so wildly off base. I even love how he tips his chin down as he wheezes out the last of “zeem,” clearly bowing into his humiliation. It is a picture-perfect Oscars moment that you must watch four times in a row at minimum. Low brow humor baby, we love to see it. —Emily Leibert

Some people’s go-to good-mood YouTube videos are compilations of sports highlights or baby animals playing together. For me, it’s Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s 1998 Oscars acceptance speech for the Good Will Hunting (1997) screenplay. The eagerness! The enthusiasm! The youth! The cheekiness! It gets me crying happy tears in under two minutes, every time. After hugging their mothers (who they brought as dates—it’s cheesy, but it works on me, what can I say?) and Robin Williams, they bound onto the stage, and Affleck almost immediately breaks the fourth wall, saying, “There’s no way we’re doing this in less than 20 seconds.” He delivers the bulk of the speech, with Damon grinning and occasionally fist pumping next to him—until late in the speech when Damon begins yelling the names of people they need to thank (“your brother,” “my dad right over there!”).

At the time, Affleck was 25 and Damon was 27, and of course, this sort of wunderkind privilege was something that for too long was only afforded to people like them—but dammit if this speech doesn’t raise my spirits nonetheless. (We cannot, however, ignore that Harvey Weinstein is the first person Affleck thanks in the speech. Woof.) —Nora Biette-Timmons

When Parasite won Best Picture at the Oscars in 2020, a strange moment ensued: An entire auditorium of exorbitantly rich, out-of-touch people—in other words, the very objects of Parasite’s ruthless critique—rose from their seats to cheer, joyously hooting and hollering. The spectacle reminded me of multi-millionaires Chrissy Teigen and former President Obama’s very public praise of the movie, which, again, makes all too clear its disdain for the ultra-wealthy.

Parasite, which follows a poor family that deviously embeds itself in a rich family’s household, frames the wealthy as equal parts stupid and cruel, utterly removed from reality and living in an entirely separate world from the working class. I found myself audibly chortling at the sight of wealthy celebs celebrating it, seemingly just as aware as Parasite posits them to be, oblivious to everything the movie says about them. Parasite was doubly validated in this way—not only had it won an Oscar, but it essentially proved a key part of its thesis, too. I loved it. —Kylie Cheung

If there’s anything at an awards show that makes me feel alive—other than James Cameron or Quentin Tarantino losing, of course—it’s witnessing exchanges between attendees that feel so intensely intimate I wonder whether I should be privy to them at all. Now, I’m not just talking about side-eyes and ill-timed shifts in seats. I’m referring to the beautiful and all-too-brief moment in time in which Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper led us (me, mostly) to believe they might be fucking, culminating in an on-stage duet that I continue to ponder weekly.

In 2019, the Gaga-Cooper-helmed A Star Is Born was nominated for eight Academy Awards. The film itself had generated its fair share of buzz given its rich cinematic legacy; the fact that a preeminent pop star got top billing certainly didn’t hurt either. But what audiences really couldn’t get enough of was the film’s lengthy press tour, which saw Gaga and Cooper repeatedly praising one another and cozying up in a way that suggested they were a little more than co-stars.

By the time they made it on the Oscars stage for a performance of the film’s infamous duet, “Shallow,” the onscreen lovers shared a piano bench, rested their cheeks against one another, and tenderly crooned into the other’s eyes. They’d later insist that it was all a masterfully orchestrated show of sorts, but if you asked me, it was confirmation that a heady love affair had taken place—or, still was. When it comes to Hollywood, you can’t get more joyful than a torrid romance between co-stars. —Audra Heinrichs

If I ever win an Oscar—or any award, really—I want to win it exactly like Olivia Colman won Best Actress for The Favourite in 2019: I want to look genuinely shocked and grateful when my name gets called; I want to be wearing a gorgeous green gown with elegant mesh sleeves; I want alternating cheek kisses from my hot husband and hot co-star Emma Stone; I want Emma Stone to nearly pass out from excitement as I make my way to the stage; and I want Emma Stone standing and crying for my entire speech. I cannot imagine a more joyful scenario in which to be told I am the Best Actress of the year.

And then there’s Colman’s speech, which starts off endearingly strong with, “Oh, it’s genuinely quite stressful. This is hilarious!” The next minute or so sways masterfully between grateful tear-jerking thanks and self-deprecating punchlines that get the whole room laughing. She apologizes to her “idol” Glen Close for winning over her: “This is not how I wanted it to be and I think you’re amazing.” She chokes up trying to thank her mom and dad, and then wordlessly sends a kiss to the heavens. She hopes her kids are watching at home! But praises them, should they have gotten out of watching the hours-long ceremony.

Colman cuts her origin story short and blows a raspberry when the teleprompter tells her to wrap up. She beautifully shouts out her husband then laughs, “He’s going to cry! But I’m not!” She gets overwhelmed by all the people she needs to thank and ends it by exclaiming, “Oh, Lady Gaga!” who’s sitting in the front row, and blows her a kiss. It’s a gorgeous Shakespearean concoction of overwhelming emotion and comedic relief—no doubt aided by her charming British accent. It brings me more peace, joy, and happiness than my daily 300mg of Wellbutrin. —Lauren Tousignant

Before Ariana DeBose proclaimed that Angela Bassett “did the thing” at this year’s BAFTA Awards, Halle Berry also did a similar, well, thing! The video of her winning an Oscar for Best Actress in 2002 for her performance in Monster’s Ball brings tears to my eyes. Berry looks absolutely shook when her name is called, and in the height of the emotional disbelief, the announcer can barely get her own words out either, stumbling over the word “Emmy” multiple times. Clutching the golden statue, Berry is speechless as she cries on stage, garnering even more applause from the crowd. “This moment is so much bigger than me,” she says, before dedicating the moment to a number of women of color actors (including Angela Bassett herself!). “And it’s for every nameless face and woman of color that now has a chance because this door has been opened.”

Despite the joy that the moment brought, the door might need a bit of a shoulder-slam to let others through. Berry recently said that she finds it “heartbreaking” that she’s still the only Black woman to win the coveted award. Women of color have done ~the thing in question~ forwards, backwards, upside down, and inside out, and they deserve every damn award for it. —Rodlyn-mae Banting

Haters will say I’m basic, but my favorite Oscars moment is Julia Roberts showing up to the 2001 ceremony in a vintage Valentino gown. To this day, people write about her being one of the first celebrities to wear an archival look on the red carpet, even though Renée Zellweger also chose vintage that year (a beautiful, lemon yellow strapless dress by Jean Desses). But it’s Roberts who sticks in my mind, which I think is partly due to the fact that she won Best Actress for Erin Brockovich, meaning the dress got extra airtime. At the same time, the black and white column gown with a sheer train is really just that memorable. I love that stars are still clamoring to wear vintage and, for the record, my current archival queen is Zendaya. —Susan Rinkunas

The year? 2013. A Best Actress nominee is asked by Ryan Seacrest how to describe her outfit. She answers succinctly, “It is sparkly and fluffy.” It was, and the “it” in question was a small purse in the shape of a dog wearing a tiara and a tutu. The actress was 9-year-old Quvenzhane’ Wallis, the youngest person to ever be nominated for an Academy Award for her role in Beasts of the Southern Wild.

Each red carpet interview with Wallis that awards season, almost all of which were accompanied by one of her many puppy purses, was a delightful reminder that these sorts of events should be celebratory and fun! The dog was named Sammy, after her real dog back at home. We love an homage! I thought about Wallis and Sammy when And Just Like That featured Carrie Bradshaw’s pigeon clutch. There’s something so gloriously whimsical about tucking a little animal under your arm and bringing it along with you for the evening. The Oscars can always use that sort of flourish if you ask me! —Kady Ruth Ashcraft