Saturday, March 2, 2019

A final post about politics and diversity among the 2019 Oscar winners


It's time to finish my series on the Oscar winners that I promised three times.  I begin by sharing Oscars 2019 Winners - Rami Malek, Black Panther, Spike Lee vs Green Book from Grace Randolph of Beyond the Trailer.

Oscars 2019 reaction & review today! Beyond The Trailer host Grace Randolph's reaction & review of the full show, from the monologue to the winners Rami Malek, Olivia Colman, Regina King and Mahershala Ali, Black Panther and Into the Spider-Verse plus Spike Lee vs Green Book over Best Picture!
Watching Grace's response reminded me that, while I wrote about "BlacKkKlansman" and "First Man" in The Academy Awards got political without mentioning Trump, a recycled comment, I only mentioned "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Roma" in passing, while completely ignoring "Skin" in How do I think the political drama nominees will fare at tonight's Oscars?  That was a mistake, as "Bohemian Rhapsody" featured an acting winner who added to diversity and representation in the movies, Rami Malek, as Grace pointed out.  In addition, it won three more Oscars, Best Achievement in Film Editing, Best Achievement in Sound Editing, Best Achievement in Sound Mixing, for a total of four, the most of any film this year.  Congratulations!

As for "Roma," it actually is a political film, just about Mexican politics and history, not U.S. politics.  It made its own points about diversity, in addition to Alfonso Cuaron counting as adding to diversity and representation in Hollywood.  After all, if I counted Guillermo del Toro's Oscars as wins for diversity, representation, and inclusion last year, I have to consider Cuaron's two Oscars for Best Director and Best Cinematography and a third for Mexico as its official submission for Best Foreign Language Film as well.  Still, the three Oscars for "Roma" did not set an record for Foreign Language Films; as best as I can tell, that honor is shared between "Fanny and Alexander" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" with four Oscars each.  Still, congratulations to Cuaron, Mexico, and Netflix!

I completely missed "Skin," as I did not mention the nominees for Short Subject at all.  Even so, it made important points about racism, as both of the film's producer-directors mentioned when they accepted the Oscar for Short Film.

Watch Guy Nattiv and Jaime Ray Newman accept the Oscar for Short Film (Live Action) for SKIN at Oscars 2019.
Congratulations!

I have two more drama winners to mention before I switch to comedies.  First, I called "Shallow" from "A Star Is Born" as the likely winner of Best Original Song in "RBG" earns two Oscar nominations plus other nominees for Best Documentary Feature and that happened.  Congratulations, Lady Gaga, you have an Oscar to go with your two Grammys for this song alone along with your seven other Grammy Awards.  Congratulations!  Next, I eventually decided that Regina King would be the favorite to win Best Supporting Actress, which she did.  She now has an Oscar to go along with her Emmy Award, just like Rami Malek.  Congratulations to both of them!

Follow over the jump for the comedy winners for diversity and politics as well as one win for diversity among speculative fiction films that I neglected to mention.

In her video, Grace made a point about "Green Book" as both a film about racism and artistry, which along probably gave it a boost above both "Roma," the other likely winner, and the two other nominees for Best Motion Picture that also dealt with show business, "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "A Star Is Born."  Hollywood gets to reward a movie about show business that makes an important social point?  It couldn't resist.  The Oscar for Best Picture, which I thought was possible but considered to be an upset over "Roma," joined two more that I was pretty sure would happen, Best Supporting Actor for Mahershala Ali and Best Original Screenplay.  Grace made all the other points I could have made, so I'll stop by saying congratulations!

Next, I expected "Vice" would win Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling and it did, as Grace mentioned.  Here's to hoping the movie recoups its costs in the secondary market.  Annapurna needs the money.

Finally, I forgot to mention "Bao" among the speculative fiction winners.  It was definitely a win for diversity and representation.  Watch as BAO Accepts the Oscar for Short Film (Animated), a choice Awkwafina agreed with.

Watch Domee Shi and Becky Neiman-Cobb accept the Oscar for Short Film (Animated) for BAO at Oscars 2019.
Congratulations!

That's it for this year's Oscar winners.  Stay tuned for an entry about World Wildlife Day, which may not be a Sunday entertainment feature.  After all, I've done entertainment all week!

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