By: John Mendoza

The 88th Academy Awards presented by the AMPAS, more commonly known as the Oscars, was a night filled with great appreciation towards the feats reached by people in the film industry. It was also a night filled with much controversy. Many people both inside and out of the Academy were puzzled and disturbed by the seemingly lack of racial diversity of the nominees these past two years.

Actor Chris Rock hosted this year’s Oscars for the second time in his career, after hosting the 77th Oscars back in 2005. He brought along his comedy and view on the lack of racial diversity at the awards show. Throughout the night, Chris Rock often cracked jokes and poked at nominees who were announced at the ceremony.

The dry humor brought down the heaviness of the hard truth concerning the lack of racial diversity, and many celebrities sought to bring other troubling topics to the stage. From the concern of sexual assault, brought to us by Lady Gaga’s powerful performance of ‘Til It Happens to You’  to the also very real problem of global warming brought up by first time Oscar winner, Leonardo DiCaprio.

DiCaprio had been nominated for five Oscars throughout his entire acting career and last night was his time in the Academy Awards spotlight. DiCaprio was nominated in the category for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” for his work in the film The Revenant. His acceptance speech was passionate, but he wasted no time to remind us the consequences of global warming and its devastating effects on the Earth. Production for the film was constantly changed farther South due to the fact that it was not cold enough in the areas where they shot certain scenes.

“Climate change is real. It is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species, and we need to work together and stop procrastinating, We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters … but who speak for all of humanity.” Leonardo DiCaprio’s speech struck a chord deep in the hearts and minds of the people as he urges us to take the matter more seriously.

It is without a doubt, that this year’s Academy Awards was another step forward in film history.