Who doesn’t enjoy the award show season? We get to see Hollywood’s biggest stars and performers come together and celebrate the greatest films and music from the past year. And this past month, we had award shows like the Grammys and the SAG Awards. This year, Timothee Chalamet achieved something that no one else has. The 29-year-old actor took home Outstanding Male Actor for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in, A Complete Unknown, making him the youngest actor to do so. In his acceptance speech, Chalamet took an almost non-traditional route with his speech, he made sure to thank his co-stars and everyone else involved with the making of the film, but he also expressed his ambition for something greater. In the latter part of his speech, Chalamet said, “And lastly, I can’t downplay the significance of this award because it means the most to me. I know we’re in a subjective business, but the truth is, I’m really in pursuit of greatness. I know people don’t usually talk like that, but I want to be one of the greats…”Â
After his speech, some people questioned whether the actor was overconfident in his words, but in all honesty, I think he had just the right amount of confidence. This led me to the question though, is ambition dead? I feel that we, as a society, have forgotten that we CAN be proud of ourselves and we SHOULD have the ambition to do more. And it’s okay to voice that, we should never be embarrassed to want more. Especially in this day and age, I feel as though women have had their achievements downplayed and their ambitions pushed aside because we shouldn’t be too “cocky” or “overzealous.” Then, we just become crazy to the rest of the world.Â
And while even Timothee, a straight white man, has had his ambitions challenged. Women, for centuries, have had theirs challenged. Only now are we starting to break out of a mold that we’re pushed into. We have so many greats to inspire us all, such as Kamala Harris, Simone Biles, Serena Williams, Greta Thunberg, and so many more amazing women. So no, ambition isn’t dead because we have so many inspiring figures to keep it alive, and we need to continue to keep it alive, so we can inspire so many other generations after us.