The Oscars made headlines for all the wrong reasons. While the majority of people heard about the infamous Will Smith vs Chris Rock moment, many don't even know who went home with the prizes. Which celebrities received awards from a pretentious show may seem like trivial information with everything going on in the world, but the night was actually a massive win for diversity.
To understand why this matters, it's important to know the history of the Academy and its relationship with diversity. That being, its very poor relationship with diversity. Notoriously, the most famous awards like acting and directing tend to go to white people, white men when possible. To this day, only one Black woman has ever won Best Actress. Only three women have ever won Best Director. While this has been a problem since the conception of the show, people have largely been talking about it widely in the last ten years or so.
If it hadn't been overshadowed, the 2022 ceremonies would have been among the most intersectional of all time. Because this is what people have been asking for, for a long time, it's disappointing to see the spotlight shine elsewhere. Boundaries were broken in terms of race, gender, and disability and that is what everyone should be talking about.
Best Supporting Actress: Ariana DeBose
The first award of the night went to Ariana DeBose for her role as Anita in Steven Spielberg's West Side Story. Before her role as Anita, DeBose was well known for her work in the musical theater world. Most notably, she was a prominent ensemble member of Hamilton's Original Broadway Cast, and she played Alyssa in the Netflix adaptation of The Prom.
Rita Moreno won the Oscar in 1962 for playing Anita in the original film, which made her the first Hispanic actress to ever win in her category. DeBose makes similar history, becoming the first Afro-Latina and the first openly queer woman of color to win an acting Oscar. The pair also become the first women to win for playing the same character.
Best Supporting Actor: Troy Kotsur
Making history in the opposite category was actor Troy Kotsur for his role in CODA. Kotsur is now the very first deaf actor to win in the Best Supporting Actor category, and only the second deaf person to ever be honored with an acting award at the ceremony. The first of course was his CODA co-star Marlee Matlin who won Best Actress for her role in Children of a Lesser God.
Kotsur was visibly moved to win this award, and was met with a standing ovation of mostly silent applause. He delivered his speech in ASL, and dedicated his win to the deaf community.
Best Actor: Will Smith
Though he certainly caused drama at the show, Will Smith's win for Best Actor in a leading role isn't something that should be ignored (assuming he gets to keep it). His win makes only the fifth, ever, for a Black man in his category. That is only five out of 94 Oscars ceremonies.
These acting wins encompass three out of the four given at the annual ceremonies, meaning the vast majority of them were given to people who were either not white, not straight, or not able-bodied. It's hard to remember a time when the Oscars were so intersectional in their most visible awards, and it's important to celebrate.
Best Director: Jane Campion
Though the New Zealand director isn't a first-time Oscar winner, she previously won Best Original Screenplay for her 1993 drama The Piano, Jane Campion was the first woman to be nominated for the Best Director award twice. Her 2022 win for The Power of the Dog also puts her in an interesting place in history.
Campion is now only the third woman to ever receive the honor, which seems so unfair given that this is the 94th year the ceremonies are taking place. However, her win does represent some growth in the Academy. Following Chloe Zhao's 2021 win, this marks two years in a row that the Best Director has been a woman.
Best Picture: CODA
Lastly, in what's generally seen as the biggest award of the night, CODA took home the award for Best Picture. This means that Troy Kotsur was not only a game changer on his own, but with his cast. CODA is the first Best Picture winner ever to have a majority disabled cast, making it a huge winner for intersectionality.
On top of that, CODA is an Apple TV original. This makes it the first streaming service original to become a Best Picture winner. Everyone was waiting for this honor to eventually go to Netflix, so this will be a pretty big deal for Apple TV.
Though more people are talking about the drama of the ceremony than they are the winners, this is still a huge deal. Hopefully, boundaries have now been broken and more intersectionality can come from what will always be thought of as a very messy Oscars.