The Oscars ceremony took place on Sunday Feb. 24 at the Dolby Theatre (pictured above) in Hollywood. Despite strides toward progressivism, the controversial Green Book film still won best picture (Courtesy of Creative Commons).
Somehow, against all odds, the 2019 Oscars awards ended up being … okay? For the first time since 1989, the Oscars went without a host, and everything in the world seemed to indicate that this was an awful idea.
Those ‘89 Oscars are widely considered to be the worst ever, and the way that the Academy decided that this show 30 years later would also be “hostless” was suspect at best. Yet, going without a host ended up being the most innovative decision that the Academy has made in some time as it caused the telecast to feel quicker, crisper and more concise.
A “hostless” ceremony meant that a plethora of presenters were responsible for moving the show along. This celebration of celebrity proved vastly more entertaining than having a single person run the show, and it allowed for the show’s emphasis to remain on the winners rather than on a host desperately trying to elicit a laugh.
Presentation highlights included the Wayne’s World duo presenting Bohemian Rhapsody, John Mulaney and Awkwafina bantering as they presented a pair of awards and Samuel L. Jackson’s unabashed love of director Spike Lee.
As far as the actual awards are concerned, it initially seemed that the Academy was getting those right too. The voting body is growing more diverse which was evident during many of the technical awards; case in point: the behind-the-scenes production of Black Panther. Ruth E. Carter was recognized for turning the titular superhero “into an African king” and won the Oscar for best costume design.
Hannah Beachler won the award for production design and gave one of the most affecting speeches of the night, proudly stating that “[she] did [her] best and [her] best was good enough.” According to The Ringer, Carter and Beachler made history as the first black people to win in their respective categories and contributed to a historic ceremony for female winners in non-gendered categories like Documentary Feature and Sound Editing.
Other notable wins include Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, which defeated Pixar’s The Incredibles 2 for best animated feature, and Alfonso Cuarón’s best director win for Roma. Spider-Man’s win in particular is notable for what it means for representation in popular cinema.
“To our audience, thank you so much, we love you and we want you all to know we see you,” Spider-Man co-director Peter Ramsey said. “You’re powerful, this world needs you. So please, we’re all counting on you.”
Cuarón’s best director win also marks the fifth time in the last six years that a Mexican director has taken home the award.
One step forward means two steps back, though. The Academy’s biggest award proved that they are incapable of avoiding controversy.
After spending the entire three-hour telecast building up a surprising amount of goodwill, Green Book, a film steeped in controversy, was awarded best picture. Over the course of the past few months, Green Book was criticized as a simplistic vision of race relations that put forth a kind of “white savior” that was responsible for ending racism.
The controversy furthered when the family of Don Shirley—the black jazz musician on whom the film is based—said that none of the filmmakers contacted them about the story and that they mischaracterized elements of Shirley’s life in the film.
Somehow, a wide-open best picture race during a year where a black superhero movie and an affecting drama about domestic workers in Mexico City were nominated was won by a movie that features a scene where a white man convinces Shirley to try fried chicken.
This shouldn’t be surprising since this sort of controversy is par for the course as far as the Oscars are concerned. Yet, the Oscars says it wants to change and become more diverse, to evolve with the changing sentiments of its audience and it really felt like that was happening this year. Green Book’s best picture win proves that isn’t the case, and the Academy still has a lot of evolving to do.