What the 2023 Academy Awards can tell us about helping others find their genius
by Mary Frances Noser
I’ve had my Oscar dream since I was ten. I was in a Saturday morning theater class at Nashville Children’s Theater, and we were talking about dreams. My teacher, Mr. Ross, told us to take our scripts and a pencil, spread out across the stage, and draw our deepest, most firmly held dream. I looked at my paper for a second, pushed aside the doubt that I should even be drawing what I was thinking, and drew myself walking up those circular stairs to receive my Oscar for Best Actress. I remember working hard to draw the shimmering beads on my dress when Mr. Ross called time, and we all came back to the circle. I don’t remember how my classmates reacted, but I do remember that the shirt they gave us at the end of our class that semester said “One day I’ll thank the Academy.”
I still have that shirt. And hopefully one day, I will get to thank the Academy. But that’s not the point of this article.
I knew, even then, I wasn’t going to get to that stage by myself.
I was going to get there with the help of my friends, my family, my fellow actors, and even the people who made my dress. My theater education had already taught me I was only the sum of my fellow artists’ parts. My work in the film industry has shown me that while this is the practical case in our industry, it is certainly not typically celebrated.
But this year, the sleeper hit Everything Everywhere All at Once proved that that ethos is making its overdue walk out the door.
I was deeply moved by the words of Daniel Kwan, one half of The Daniels directing duo, who took home the Oscars for Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Original Screenplay. In his acceptance speech for the Best Director Oscar, Kwan said:
“There is greatness in every single person, it doesn’t matter who they are. If you have a genius that is waiting to erupt, you just need to find the right people to unlock that.
Thank you so much everyone who has unlocked my genius. This means so much to us. Thank you to the Academy!”[1]
Here we have a filmmaker whose very art was made though his ability to stand with, not above, others. Kwan has made his entire career as a part of a directing duo, only the third duo in Oscar history to have won the Best Director Oscar as a pair. Kwan and his partner Daniel Scheinert’s work is built on the weird, the strange, the other, and how the only way we can find ourselves in this wild world is if we band together.
Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan accept their Oscars for Best Director, inspiring nerdy theater kids everywhere.
Contrast his reaction with James Cameron’s Best Director acceptance speech where he quoted his own movie, and in that you have the promise of where American cinema has the potential to go—toward a world where we listen to all around us, where we value each of their contributions as being equally important, toward a world built on respect and dedication and downright good nature. Where the very producer of the Best Picture winner centers his speech on the ethos of people over profits[2], and working together in a manner based fully on respect. I cannot stress to you how much of a game changer that kind of ethos is in my industry. The days of the Harvey Weinstein types are (finally), mostly, over.
What does this trend tell us about the wider business world, and why does that matter? It tells us that the days of saying you care about your customers, but not following through are over. That people are hungering to feel listened to. And that art which shows the power of listening, especially beyond every conceived identity you have for yourself may be the most important thing you can ever contribute toward making this world a better place. So next time you have a meeting with a client you think is probably not a good fit for your business, ask them why they got into their business in the first place. Or what their favorite color is. They might not be a good fit for your business, but they are a good fit for this world, and you may just wake them up to their own genius. They just haven’t seen it yet.