After watching The Shape of Water, most people ask themselves “Did I just watch a movie where a woman has sex with a fish”. Well… yes, you did, but that’s not the point of this movie. People focused on the weirdness of it and not on the message. Guillermo del Toro, the wonderful Badass Mexican Director (that got his well-deserved Oscar for this movie), wrote this screenplay as a parable to the issues presented in America.
This different version of Beauty and The Beast demonstrates the importance of one’s differences, how difficult it is for society to adapt to change, and how they are threatened by it. This movie, just like most of the movies nominated for Best Picture, are incredibly important and needed in this day and age to trail blaze the industry. Not to mention, it is written and directed by a person of color who’s an immigrant. Therefore, he put his story of not being accepted in this country because of where he’s from and his accent. He wrote it as a metaphor, which is smart of him because not many people would have been happy with the reality of today being broadcasted in Hollywood. Little do these people know, Guillermo del Toro fooled them and broadcasted it anyways but in a hidden, sneaky little way.
Although Get Out completely deserved that Best Picture Oscar, people can’t bring down The Shape of Water because it was wonderfully written and executed, had an amazing cast (I mean, Octavia Spencer? Sold!), and taught people an important lesson.
So let’s tip our hats to Guillermo del Toro for his amazingness as a director and screenwriter and for finally getting that Oscar he deserved after years of hard work! ¡Viva México!