By Shelby Daniels

Celebrating its 90th year, the Academy Awards had more than just presenting flubs to worry about for this year’s show. Hoping to recover from last year’s tense Moonlight and La La Land Best Picture debacle, Jimmy Kimmel returned to host for another year. Kimmel’s opening monologue highlighted the nominees of the night, took some jabs at long-running acceptance speeches and emphasized the importance of the current social movements going on in Hollywood.

The real star of the night proved to be Guillermo del Toro. Guillermo’s The Shape of Water is a creature flick exploring the love between a mute custodian and a sea creature stored in a lab in Baltimore in the 1960s. Guillermo’s The Shape of Water won the top award for the night, Best Picture, as well as Best Director, marking the first Oscar win for the Mexican-born writer and director.

Perhaps one of the most satisfying and heart-wrenching wins was Jordan Peele’s victory for Best Original Screenplay. The victory of Peele’s horror flick Get Out marked a significant moment in Academy history. Not only did the film bring an open narrative about modern racism into the mainstream spotlight, but the film successfully delivered its message through the often neglected horror genre.

Peele’s victory for Get Out was a positive departure from the “Oscars So White” movement that plagued the awards show in the previous year.

Taking home Best Supporting Actress, Allison Janney accepted the award for her portrayal of Tonya Harding’s intense and unyielding mother in I, Tonya. Sam Rockwell took home Best Supporting Actor for his role in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri as a close-minded cop from a small town in the South.

An audience favorite of the awards season, Lady Bird was notably snubbed from any awards. Directed by Greta Gerwig, this coming-of-age film starring three-time nominee Saoirse Ronan had previously been predicted to take home major awards for the night. Despite not leaving with an Oscar, Gerwig’s nomination for Best Director marks only the fifth time a woman has been nominated in the category, with the last nomination given to a woman in 2010, making the attention that Lady Bird received significant nonetheless.

Del Toro and Peele’s wins and Gerwig’s nomination marked a noticeably more diverse Oscars this year. Previously criticized for its lack of diversity, the Academy seemed to reflect the social movements of the Hollywood community within its nominations and the show itself. Amidst the ever growing #MeToo and Time’s Up movements, Hollywood has found ways to speak out and bring awareness against issues plaguing the industry during this awards season. While more dramatic and obvious protests have been held – including the sea of black gowns at the Golden Globes – the Oscars addressed these pervasive issues within the program itself, rather than leaving the burden to the stars to do most of the heavy lifting. Ashley Judd, Salma Hayek and Annabella Sciorra, all reporters of the sexual misconduct of Harvey Weinstein, introduced the official Time’s Up montage.

Additionally, the Academy Awards shifted a minor presentation of an award to respect the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements. Rather than having the previous year’s winner of Best Actor present the award for Best Actress as per tradition, the Oscars did not include Casey Affleck in its lineup of presenters, a subtle change that spoke volumes given the reports against Affleck of sexual misconduct and harassment.

Frances McDormand’s acceptance speech for Best Actress capped off the evening’s discussions of diversity and inclusion. Winning for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, McDormand called upon every woman nominated for the evening to stand and be acknowledged. She ended her speech with “inclusion rider,” citing a clause in contracts that necessitates diversity when signing onto a project.

While the Oscars diversified their award winners and included calls to action, the Oscars still have a long way to go. Whether or not their highlight on diverse winners will make an impact on the Hollywood community is yet to be seen.

One can only hope that the momentum around social justice movements and increased opportunities for people of color in the film industry will continue outside of the end of award season.