Oscars 2015: 10 Biggest Surprises From The Ceremony

7. Political Speeches Galore

Oscar speeches traditionally come in very cookie-cutter moulds - thank your family, the director (or, if you are the director, the cast) and maybe some lesser known industry great if there's time. Not this year. From Patricia Arquette seguing from the usual self-affecting platitudes into a rousing call for feminist action, to John Legend and Common's pushing of their film's point as an ever-relevant message after winning Best Original Song (for Glory from Selma), this was most certainly the political Oscars. You expect this to some degree when films about ALS and Alzheimers are among the favourites, but even when unrelated movies were being praised many serious issues came up. Even the more 'standard' speeches contained something deeper, with J.K. Simmons kicking the night off by imploring everyone to ring their parents and embrace familial love. Overall, it was such a nice antidote to the sheer shallowness of the whole Red Carpet fashion parade.