Minorities Win Big at the Oscars

P.T. Philben ’17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

The biggest controversy surrounding the Oscars this year involved minorities being largely shut out of the nominations. In something of a redeeming ceremony the actual winners have in a notable number of cases been minorities. Certainly refreshing given the expectations leading up to the night. Poetic justice at its finest.
Common and John Legend won best original song for their beautiful soul/hiphop tribute to the legacy of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, “Glory”. Apparently, quite fittingly. But that was expected. Somewhat surprising was Birdman winning best original screenplay, which had four Latino screenwriters; Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris Jr and Armando Bo.
Best Cinematography also went to Emmanuel Lubezki, also Latino, for Birdman winning “dos for dos”, as Neil P. Harris put it, after winning last year for Gravity, another film directed by a Mexican film director, Alfonso Cuarón. Best Film Editing, arguably the most important of the technical categories, went to half-asian Tom Cross for his sharp work on Whiplash.
Best director, for a second year in a row, went to Alejandro González Iñárritu, also Latino. This year the award was presented to him for his revolutionary work on Birdman. And finally, the Academy Award for best picture, as indicated by presenter Sean Penn when he jokingly (and perhaps insensitively) asked “Who gave this son of a b**** his green card?”, went to Alejandro González Iñárritu for producing Birdman. All together a much more diverse list of winners than in years past, in contrast to the list of nominees.
Cumulatively 8 minorities including two black men, five Latinos, and one half-asian man took home Academy Awards in 6 different categories. Alejandro G. Iñárritu personally took home 3 of these awards himself for picture, director and screenplay, the three most prestigious awards for off-camera work. The nominees announced may have come up short, in the acting categories particularly, when it came to racial diversity and it remains a huge problem. Tonight however, can be laid to rest as a victory in the ongoing fight for minorities in the industry. As this years Oscar winning song goes;
“We’ll fight on to the finish, and when it’s all done ~ We’ll cry glory”!