The nominees for the 89th Academy Awards were released Jan. 24, and many of them are not white.
In the categories of Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress, there are seven people of color. This is an obvious improvement from last year, especially when there weren’t any people of color nominated in those categories.
As a self-professed movie buff, I make an attempt to see as many films as I can each year. Last year, the lack of movies with roles for people of color was noticeable.
This year, films like “Moonlight,” “Lion,” “Fences” and “Hidden Figures” were all fully dependent on people of color to tell their stories. These four films not only had their actors and actresses nominated in their respective categories, but they are also nominated for Best Picture.
“Fences” is based on the play of the same name by August Wilson, and director Denzel Washington chose to stay true to the play’s integrity. He chose to move the play from on-stage to film with pure authenticity. Someone else could have turned the project into yet another Hollywood whitewashed project, but he didn’t. A person of color chose to tell the African-American’s story.
In the same vein, “Moonlight” is incredibly transparent and vivid in its depiction of its characters. Director Barry Jenkins intended to tell the story of modern African-American life, but it speaks to anyone of any race in its content.
“Hidden Figures” tells the stories of those who were vital in the progression of NASA and the moon landings who were, as the name suggests, hidden for a long time.
In school, I learned about John Glenn, the Space Race and Sputnik. I didn’t learn about Katherine G. Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, even though they were just as vital as anyone else involved.
“Lion,” the film for which Dev Patel received his nod, focuses on an Indian boy who gets lost on a train, only to find his real family 20 years later. Entirely a work of fiction, director Garth Davis decided to afford the opportunity to Indian people to be in the film. He could have easily given the role to another white American, but he didn’t.
I’ve given all of these examples simply to say there were more opportunities for those of color to be in amazing films.
Not only were people of color afforded inspiring roles, but many white people were too. The mark of true diversity is not eliminating whites, but having all races coexist in the same space: in reality, and on the screen.
Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone delivered a captivating performance in a musical comedy about Hollywood. The thing is, “La La Land” was such a well-crafted film, the race of the characters ultimately didn’t matter. African-Americans could have been the stars and delivered an equally captivating performance.
Of course, I am a bit biased toward Gosling, but that’s my own thought.
Andrew Garfield had the opportunity as a British national to play a unique American hero, and he did it in incredible fashion.
There were opportunities for various stories to be told. Many people in a number of different settings were shown, and that’s the point of art. Art is made to make people think and feel. It is made to transport your mind to another place that you could never experience for yourself.
Affording opportunities to actors, writers, actresses and directors to produce projects that are varied in their style, language, timeframe and characters can make us more accepting of those who are different than us when we see them portrayed on the screen. I hope to see this trend continue in the coming years.
It also fosters the thoughts and dreams that people, especially in America, can be anything they want regardless of their circumstance.
We aren’t where we should be as a society in terms of accepting and fostering diversity, but we sure are much farther than we were last year.
Myia Hambrick is a 21-year-old mass communication junior from Temple, Georgia.