Changing The Gold Standard

On a night that lacked a host but not surprises, the 2019 Oscars were a watershed event celebrating Hollywood opening its doors to diverse talent on both sides of the camera.

- Piya Sinha-roy

AT THE STAR-STUDDED GOVERNORS Ball held directly after the Oscars, Black Panther stars Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, and Winston Duke grabbed newly minted winner Hannah Beachler, the innovative production designer of Marvel’s superhero film, in a tight hug. They huddled together to snap selfies, and Gurira and Beachler clasped hands, squealing in excitement as they held her Oscar.

Beachler’s was one of many trailblazing wins during Hollywood’s biggest night— and not just for delivering Marvel Studios into the winner’s circle at the Academy Awards on Sunday. She and the film’s costume designer Ruth E. Carter became the first African-American women to take trophies in their respective categories, joining a record-breaking class of 15 women and seven black artists to earn honors across the Oscars’ 24 categories. In another Oscar first, three of the four acting-category winners were people of color: Best Supporting Actress Regina King (If Beale Street Could Talk) and Best Supporting Actor Mahershala Ali (Green Book), who are African-American, and Best Actor Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody), who is Egyptian-American. (The Favourite’s Olivia Colman took home the Best Actress prize.)

It was a night for elevating diverse talent in front of and behind the camera—and had a telecast up 11 percent in the ratings from last year’s show. “There were so many groundbreaking black creators [tonight],” said Peter Ramsey, co-director of Best Animated Feature Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, who became the first African-American filmmaker to win the category. “For me to be lucky enough somehow to be anywhere near this wave, it’s a lot of my own longest dreams finally coming true.”