Last Sunday, diversity was one of the biggest winners at the Oscars. The Academy was filled with an immensely diverse group of winners. Three out of the four top acting awards were won by non-white actors. Regina King, Mahershala Ali and Rami Malek triumphed for their roles in If Beale Street Could Talk, Green Book and Bohemian Rhapsody. Just four years ago, not a single non-white actor was nominated in these acting categories.
Production designer Hannah Beachler and costume designer Ruth Carter also became the second and third African American women to win non-acting Oscars for their work in Black Panther. Additionally, a record 15 women won Oscars this year, beating the previous record of 12 in both 2014 and 2016.
We’ve come a long way from #OscarsSoWhite.
Of course, while it was wonderful to see such diversity on the big screen throughout the year and then on the Oscar stage last Sunday, we still have a long way to go towards equal representation both in the movies and on the red carpet.
For example, main non-acting categories are still dominated by white males. In the same way, while the number of roles for people of color have increased over the last couple of years, their representation still doesn’t reflect the actual population of the world around us.
It seems clear that although we might be gaining ground in some areas, we still have a long road ahead until we truly have equal representation in Hollywood, let alone among the nominees and winners on Oscar night.