7 Moments That Defined The 2018 Oscars For Better Or For Worse

1. 
   
   ¡Viva Latin America!
   
   
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   one of the biggest moments of the night was a blink-and-you'll-miss it hug between Mexican actor Gael García Bernal and Guatemalan-American actor Oscar Isaac. Coco had just won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, in which Isaac had proudly exclaimed, "¡Viva Latin America!" — and the two shared a warm embrace on the Oscars stage as Pixar producer Darla K. Anderson took the mic. For an animated film like Coco, a film that celebrates the aesthetics of Mexican culture, to win the Oscar at a time whenever Trump's first border wall construction is underway speaks volumes to the night's in general themes of diversity and inclusion. Immediately considering that, just a hour earlier the Oscars had been transformed into Santa Cecilia, as eye catching neon lights and established Mexican dancers flooded the stage for a rousing performance of "Remember Me," the Oscar-winning song from the Pixar film.
   
   
   Films like Coco, which was co-directed by Mexican-American animator Adrián Molina, and Chile's A Good Woman, from Argentinian director Sebastián Leilo and starring Chilean trans singer-actress Daniela Vega, broke through barriers with their Oscar wins. (Vega even became the initial openly transgender presenter at the Academy Awards.) And Mexican director Guillermo del Toro took residence the night's two biggest awards — Best Director and Best Picture — for his fantastical romance, A Shape of Water, a film that he had originally conceived of whenever he was just a boy obsessed with monsters and fairy tales growing up in Guadalajara.
   
   
   

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   Though, del Toro isn't alone atop the apex; Mexican directors have won four out of the last five Best Director Oscars, including del Toro's companions and contemporaries Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity) and Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman, The Revenant).
   
   
   
   
   





2. 
   
   Introducing Kumail Nanjiani
   
   
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   Move over Timothée Chalamet, the real breakout star of this awards season is… Kumail Nanjiani? In the event you only know Nanjiani from his character work on HBO's Silicon Valley, then there's a good chance you formerly met the Pakistani-American actor on Oscars night and realized, "Hey, this guy's pretty charming." Nanjiani and his partner, Emily V. Gordon, may have lost the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay to Jordan Peele, nevertheless he made the most of his moment, taking part in one of the more memorable montages of the night — sharing his endearing observations about diversity in film — and standing in solidarity with the Dreamers alongside Lupita Nyong’o.
   
   
   And his social media followers were treated to delightful highlights from indoor in the Dolby Theatre, like this photo of Gordon answering Best Actress winner Frances McDormand's call for all of the female Oscar nominees to stand with her toward the end of the night.
   
   
   
   
   





3. 
   
   Golden Girl Greta Gerwig
   
   
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   Despite its five nominations, Greta Gerwig's solo directorial debut Lady Bird didn't win any Oscars — nevertheless you wouldn't know that looking at Gerwig while in the night. She wore her love for movies, and the method of filmmaking, on her face in each cutaway shot. She looked like she was genuinely having a good time, rooting on her companions and celebrating cinema. Case in point: In the midst of del Toro's heartfelt acceptance speech for Best Picture, Gerwig — whose own film had just lost — clutched her heart and mouthed, "I love him." If each person would be as exuberant as Gerwig soon after a four-hour ceremony, the world would probably be a happier place. It's a good thing that Lady Bird is just the starting of her filmmaking career.
   
   
   
   
   





4. 
   
   Jordan Peele makes history
   
   
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   It's the year 2018, and Peele just became the first black writer to win the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. (For what it's worth, he also became the fifth black filmmaker nominated for Best Director.) Backstage, he called his work and the exemplary work of his contemporaries — Ava DuVernay, Ryan Coogler, Barry Jenkins, Dee Rees, to name several — the starting of a creative renaissance.
   
   
   "I'm so delighted to be a segment of a time of the starting of a movement where I feel like the perfect films in each genre are being brought to me by my fellow black directors."
   
   
   It's also telling that Coogler's Black Panther was a major topic of conversation at the best of the ceremony. As Kimmel joked, "Our plan is to shine a light on a crowd of outstanding and inspiring films, almost every one of which got crushed by Black Panther this weekend." Meanwhile, the stars of the record-breaking Marvel film — Chadwick Boseman, Danai Gurira, Nyong'o, Winston Duke, and Best Actor nominee Daniel Kaluuya — just smiled and nodded knowingly from their seats. Wakanda forever, indeed.
   
   
   
   
   





5. 
   
   The movie theater stunt
   
   
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   Last year, Kimmel brought regular people to the Oscars; this year, Kimmel brought the well known people to them in a movie theater-crashing stunt that seemed good in theory yet failed in its execution. The idea of celebrating moviegoers, the people who spend their hard-earned money on movie tickets that increase in price every year, is a noble one. Yet do you suggest what could be a higher end way to celebrate the average movie-going audience? By nominating movies they actually visualize! Remember: This year's nine Best Picture nominees earned less than Star Wars: The Last Jedi's total domestic gross at the box office combined.
   
   
   There's a reason those people were watching A Wrinkle in Time and not the Oscars. And having Wonder Woman herself, Gal Gadot, exclaim, "This is better than the Oscars," while chucking free Sour Patch Kids to eager moviegoers is probably not the sort of message the Academy Awards desire to be sending at a time as soon as viewership is hitting all-time lows. Though, Armie Hammer firing a hot dog gun was a nice touch, Kimmel.
   
   
   
   
   





6. 
   
   Tiffany Haddish and Maya Rudolph demonstrate just how good it could be
   
   
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   Director Paul Thomas Anderson has already mentioned that he'd like to be able to see a comedy starring his spouse, Maya Rudolph, and Girls Trip breakout Tiffany Haddish, however right after their comedy bit at the Oscars, here's hoping a studio is fast-tracking that idea immediately. The Academy smartly asked the comedians to exhibit two awards, and Whenever I can't remember who won, I can remember every second of Rudolph and Haddish's time on stage, from the moment they walked out, shoes in hand, to the moment they promised that there were "so several more white people to come." They were truly a breath of fresh air while in an otherwise predictable, overstuffed show.
   
   
   Haddish even gave perennial nominee Meryl Streep a shout-out, solidifying Streep's transformation into front-and-center Jack Nicholson at these Hollywood award shows. "Hi Meryl, I want you to be my mama one day," she mentioned. "Let's get this cash, girl!" Honestly? Streep seemed pretty down with the idea, so can we make this happen, PTA? And while we're at it, can Haddish and Rudolph host next year's Golden Globes? They could give Tina Fey and Amy Poehler a run for their money.
   
   
   It should also be mentioned that all the female presenting pairs were delightful, from Laura Dern and Gerwig's giddiness to the honestly touching moment between Jennifer Lawrence and Jodie Foster, in which J-Law thanked Foster for giving her one of her first acting gigs.
   
   
   
   
   





7. 
   
   Inclusion Rider
   
   
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   Upon accepting her Oscar, and right after asking all the female nominees to stand, McDormand mentioned she had "two words" to leave us with: "inclusion rider." Unless you work in the industry, the declaration probably sent you down a rabbit hole on Google. Although it's actually pretty simple. An inclusion rider is a stipulation in an actor's contract that mandates the cast and crew of a film mirror a proportionate collection of ladies and people of color. This indicates that A-list actors who have a lot of pull in negotiations — like Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo DiCaprio, and McDormand — can demand more diversity not only on set although also in the casting of their movie. So let's begin holding them accountable to do it.