I can’t say I’m an Ashton Kutcher fan. I don’t dislike the guy and I thought he was pretty funny as Michael Kelso in “
That 70s Show” but he wasn’t really in the front of my consciousness until I ran across a video clip of his acceptance speech at last night’s 2013 Teen Choice Awards.
Kutcher accepted an Old Guy Award – which is funny because I was a junior in high school when he was born – and gave a surprisingly compelling acceptance speech over the annoying and unjustified screams of the rabid tweens in the audience. In it, he reveals an earth-shattering secret (his real first name is Chris), extols the virtues of hard work, defines “sexy” and encourages his young fans to build the kind of world in which they want to live rather than just inhabiting one created by others. Although I’m certainly no expert on celebrity acceptance speeches, I’m going to go ahead and say this one was perfect for the audience and perfectly delivered:
I sure hope at least a few of those sitting in the Gibson Ampitheater in Los Angeles and watching at home actually paid attention to his speech. As the parent of four young kids who think Kutcher’s cute, funny and cool, in that order, I know how some messengers and messages are immensely more effective than others and how challenging it can be to reach youngsters with substantive messages when our culture encourages them to eschew substance and embrace superficiality.
I’m not sure why some folks are ridiculing the guy. (I was looking for a transcript of his speech online and the search results included, “Ashton’s Speech: Wacky and Weird,” “Chris Kutcher Gives Sermon at Teen Choice Awards,” “Kutcher Delivers Oddly Motivating Speech at Teen Awards” and “Kutcher Accepts Award, Channels Jobs and Plugs New Movie.”) Just because he’s a world-famous multi-millionaire who got where he is today on good luck and pretty boy looks rather than intellect doesn’t mean he can’t impart a little wisdom whenever he finds himself onstage in front of a shrieking throng of wound-up worshippers. He’s earned a spot on my “People I Dig” list.
I saw a link to his speech on youtube and I wasn't really interested at first but the title of the video was "Ashton reveals first name" or something like that, I was like well whatever I'll check it out. I don't think anyone in that audience realized he wasn't just joking around he was dead serious as he delivered his speech, unfortunately with all the screams of the teenage girls and probably even boys, I doubt anyone really listened to his speech because they were preoccupied with salivating over being in his presence.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest midway during his speech I thought he was channeling Jobs as well, but then I guess I threw that out when his speech went on for almost 5 minutes. If it were the Oscars, some musical score from an Oscar and Hammerstein movie probably would have started playing at the 40 second mark and put an end to that speech.
You said it perfectly when you were talking about the young folks, which I am as well, and honestly could admit this is the truth, "our culture encourages them to eschew substance and embrace superficiality". Sadly, people who embrace superficiality will always be embraced by the majority but those who do not will be treated like pariahs. Having an affinity for things of substance is social suicide among the youngins lol. This is the most sensible speech I've heard since Gabrielle Union's speech at the Essence awards or whatever that was. Unfortunately, this one may have cost Chris cool point with the "cool kids", and his "sexy" speech went over most heads I'm sure. Great post, glad I stopped by.