Did anyone else get a little shiver when Issa Rae announced the nominees for the Best Director Academy Award back in January? A reminder:
“Congratulations to those men.” Pregnant pause, straight to the camera.
Not angry. Just disappointed.
She later said, “I just think it’s unfortunate. I think that the Academy needs to be better. I think I’m kind of tired of having the same conversation.” Because of course she is. Because it’s a tiresome conversation that we shouldn’t have to have anymore.
We can’t just avoid it, because pretending it isn’t happening won’t make it go away. (Got it? Just not talking about it won’t make it stop happening.) But we can highlight some of the moments that aren’t just a celebration of white dudes’ achievement in the field of motion pictures, so here are some of my favorites from last night.
1. GiveHerABreak
Arguably, one of the great moments happened before the Oscar telecast even started, with agency Mojo Supermarket’s GiveHerABreak campaign. GiveHerABreak provided an online Oscars portal that replaced commercials with trailers for more than a dozen woman-directed films that got passed over this year.
“You stole our Oscars. So we stole your ads.”
2. Wearing words
On the red carpet, we got another reminder courtesy of Natalie Portman, who wore the names of snubbed female directors embroidered on her dramatic Dior cape.
And we got a message from For Sama filmmaker Waad al-Kateab, whose beautiful pink dress gave voice to voiceless Syrians with the words “we dared to dream” and “we don’t regret asking for our dignity” embroidered in Arabic.
3. Janelle Monae
The ceremony itself began, of course, with Janelle Monae’s stellar opening number, starting with a sweet tribute to Mr. Rogers, followed by a spirited and pointed callout of the Academy’s diversity problem, featuring dancers dressed as characters from movies that got passed over for Oscar nods.
“It’s time to come alive, yeah, the Oscars Sunday Night. It’s time to come alive, because the Oscars is so white.” (Which seems excessive, right? I mean, Leonard DiCaprio looked really tan that evening.)
4. More Janelle Monae
Because the world can’t have enough Janelle Monae.
“Tonight, we celebrate all the amazing talent in this room. We celebrate all the women who directed phenomenal films. And I’m so proud to stand here as a black queer artist, telling stories. Happy Black History Month.”
5. “Hair Love” and representation
As the awards were presented, we got to watch “Hair Love” win the Oscar for Best Animated Short, with teenager DeAndre Arnold in attendance.
Arnold was suspended from school and told he couldn’t walk in his graduation ceremony unless he cut his dreadlocks, so writer Matthew A. Cherry and the rest of the “Hair Love” team invited him as their guest to celebrate their tribute to black hair.
6. Taika Waititi and all the indigenous kids
When Taika Waititi won his Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar — as the first indigenous director ever to do so — for Jojo Rabbit, he dedicated his award to “all the indigenous kids in the world who want to do art and dance and write stories.”
“We are the original storytellers, and we can make it here, as well.”
7. Cynthia Erivo and “Stand Up”
We got to watch this stunning performance of the song “Stand Up” from Harriet, courtesy of Best Original Song and Best Actress nominee Cynthia Erivo.
We can note the fact that only one single actor of color was nominated for a performing Oscar, or we can enjoy her outstanding song and outstanding rendition of said song. Or we can even do both!
8. Utkarsh Ambudkar, Questlove, and a sign of the times
Actor Utkarsh Ambudkar (with the help of Questlove) serenaded us with a more-or-less freestyle rap recapping the show midway through “for a bunch of nominees that don’t look like me.”
“Been a long time trying to be colorblind. What you’re seeing right in front of you’s a sign of the times.”
9. Hildur Gudnadottir and her original score
Last night, we also got to watch Hildur Gudnadottir become the first woman in nearly a quarter of a century to win Best Original Score for the music from Joker.
Arguably the most deserving Joker nod of the night YEAH I SAID IT.
10. Bong Joon Ho and Sharon Choi
At the tail end of the ceremony, Bong Joon-ho took home Best Director honors for Parasite, which would go on to become the first-ever foreign-language film to win the Oscar for Best Motion Picture.
And make note of director Bong’s interpreter, Sharon Choi — a filmmaker in her own right, with a feature script in the works, whom Bong reportedly brought along both because of her translating skills and to give her some visibility, because I don’t know, maybe bringing people with you when you’re on the rise is a good way to use your success to help others succeed, or something.
Bravo, y’all.
So congratulations to all of last night’s winners, particularly the ones who provided a little bit of representation for people who often don’t see themselves represented at all, much less honored among the old guard who basically get nominated for these things by default at this point coughJoaquinPhoenixcough. Maybe next year, we’ll see two people of color for acting awards, or even three! (Am I dreaming too big here?)
And definitely more Janelle Monae.