The 2019 Oscars ceremony shockingly turned out to be a decent show. The surprise comes from following the long and messy road going into the 91st Academy Awards, witnessing all the backlash and backpedaling on the Academy’s controversial decisions.
Starting with the Kevin Hart fiasco, where Hart was announced to host this year’s Oscars, only to step down days later, after homophobic tweets of his from years ago resurfaced. With Hart not wanting to return to host, the Academy decided that this year would be the first time in three decades where the Oscars would have no host.
The Academy has also faced major pushback for plans to cut down the “Best Original Song” performances, not having last year’s winners present the categories and announcing that the show would present four awards during commercial breaks.
These changes were considered as solutions to increase ratings for this year’s show, after the Academy experienced its lowest ratings in history last year. Among these changes, the one that proved most successful that night was the change to the Academy’s voting members. According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), they have invited 928 new members from 59 countries, with forty-nine percent of the newly invited members being women, and thirty-eight percent being people of color.
The changes behind the scenes have in turn, made the winner’s list more diverse (who could’ve guessed it?). It was a big night for diversity this awards season, with Regina King winning “Best Supporting Actress” for the film If Beale Street Could Talk and Mahershala Ali winning “Best Supporting Actor” for Green Book. Spike Lee finally won his Oscar, winning for “Best Adapted Screenplay” for his film BlacKkKlansman.
Rami Malek made many Egyptians proud after winning the “Best Actor” award for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury in the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody; while Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, a film that features an Afro-Latino teenager as its main protagonist, won for “Best Animated feature.” Mexican director Alfonso Cuaron also had a big night thanks to his movie Roma, winning three Oscars: “Best Director,” “Best Cinematography,” and “Best Foreign Language Film.”
It was also a historic night of wins thanks to the cultural phenomenon Black Panther. Costume designer Ruth Carter won for “Best Costume Design” while Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart won for “Best Production Design.” These wins make Carter and Beachler the first African-Americans to be nominated and win in each category.
Even with these big diverse wins, controversy still followed the awards show after the “Best Picture” winner was announced. In a big upset, Green Book took home the award, angering many viewers across the internet. While the movie does discuss race relations in the United States, many felt it to be the safest choice the Academy could have made as the film did not really tackle racism in this country in a realistic approach. Many labeled this film as the most “feel good” movie of the year.
No matter how you feel about this win, it shouldn’t take away from the other big wins of the night. The Academy does seem to be listening and learning, maybe slowly, but attempts of progress are being made.
