The Oscars this year was very interesting! There were dry jokes, inspiring speeches, elegant artistes, beautiful people and bold display of cute pins worn to represent support for various initiatives like the guns movement, #MeToo and Hollywood #TimesUp initiative.
However folks were more interested in seeing if the night would feature wins for people who looked like them than Jimmy Kimmel’s jokes on Trump. They were thoroughly disappointed as there were few women and fewer minorities taking home awards at all.
Focusing on gender representation, only 6 women won anything compared to the 33 men. And some of these awards were not really major categories.
The six women won:
- Best actress in a leading role, Frances McDormand for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
- Best actress in a supporting role, Allison Janney for I, Tonya
- Darla K. Anderson for Animated Feature Film, Coco
- Lucy Sibbick (with Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski) for Makeup and Hairstyling in Darkest Hour
- Rachel Shenton (with Chris Overton), in Short Film (Live Action), The Silent Child
- Kristen Anderson-Lopez (with Robert Lopez), in Music (Original Song), “Remember Me” from Coco.
There was much applause when Jordan Peele won the award for Best Original Screenplay, Get Out. The Director’s win was excitingly welcome. He is the first black man to achieve feats in the category. Hollywood wanted more. We did too.
What we’re waiting for is to see an Oscar for the first female black Director and a second female Director. Something tells us there may be more advocacy for diversity and inclusion next year at the Academy Awards show as the fight doesn’t seem to be nearing an end yet. Let’s hope it yields positive results.