Film

The 2018 Oscars Get Political

From discussing the #MeToo movement to talking about #OscarsSoWhite, the awards show got political.

oscars

Actors Tiffany Haddish (L) and Maya Rudolph speak onstage during the 90th Annual Academy Awards. (Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

By Rebecca Gibian

As expected, the Oscars got political this year. Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the Oscars red carpet and awards show covered the #MeToo and Time’s Up movement, President Donald Trump’s presidency and more. We take a look at all the comments during the 90th Academy Awards.

#MeToo

Kimmel made plenty of jokes and comments during his monologue about sexual harassment and misconduct in Hollywood, including this one about women starring in superhero movies.

Actresses did not shy away from discussing the #MeToo movement, the movement that started in Hollywood after sexual misconduct allegations came out against to demonstrate the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment, especially in the workplace, both on the red carpet and on stage.

Casey Affleck, who was supposed to present the Best Actress award, backed out because of sexual misconduct allegations that have arisen against him.

Three Harvey Weinstein accusers presented on stage together.

When Coco songwriters Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez won Best Original Song For Remember Me, Anderson-Lopez talked about how the category was 50-50 for gender representation.

While presenting the award for Best Director, Emma Stone said “these four men, and Greta Gerwig,” calling out the fact that Gerwig is a rare female director but also that she is the first woman to earn an Oscar nod for her directorial debut.

Frances McDormand won Best Actress for her role in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. During her speech, she had all the female nominees in every category stand up and praised them.

Ryan Seacrest

Ryan Seacrest appeared on the red carpet, despite recent sexual misconduct allegations against him, levied by his former stylist. Publicists had said before the Oscars that they would have their stars avoid Seacrest on the red carpet, though some stars did speak to him.

Seacrest interviewed Taraji P. Henson, and whether she was simply speaking truth or actually directing the comment to Seacrest, she made waves on the Internet with her comments.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, E! put the interviews on a delay in anticipation of any mean comments.

Gun Control

Common called out the NRA during his performance. According to ABC News, “Stand Up for Something,” which is in the movie “Marshall” and was written by Diane Warren and Common, has been adopted by several gun violence prevention organizations. Last month, it was played in a Florida town hall for the grieving students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Some stars wore orange pins to show their support for the movement.

Donald Trump’s Administration 

Kimmel did not hold back from mocking President Donald Trump and his administration. During his monologue, he referenced Call Me By Your Name, a coming-of-age drama film about a summer love affair between two young men.

He also called out White House Communications Director Hope Hicks quitting this week. Hicks was known as one of Trump’s closest confidants.

#OscarsSoWhite

#OscarsSoWhite was a movement started to draw attention to the whitewashing within Hollywood. At this year’s Oscars, there were more people of color nominated for awards, and race was discussed frequently. Mary J. Blige was not only nominated for an original song award, for her song in Mudblood, but also for her role in the movie. This is the first time that a star has been up for a performance award and an original song award for the same movie in the same year. She performed the song, Mighty River, and it was very well received.

Jordan Peele became the first black screenwriter to win best original screenplay.

Dee Reese was the first black woman to be nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay for Mudbound.

Tiffany Haddish and Maya Rudolph, who were some of the funniest presenters of the evening, told the crowd not to worry, there were still plenty of white people coming on stage soon.

Female Empowerment

Female friendship and empowerment was in full force tonight, with many women presenting together or talking each other up while on stage. Laura Dern and Greta Gerwig presented together while holding hands and emphasized the important of accuracy and facts in our world today.

Meanwhile, Daniela Vega was the first openly transgender person to present at the Oscars.

#HereWeAre

Using a poem by Denice Frohman, Twitter released a commercial during the Oscars, saying they stand with women around the world.

Immigration 

Lupita Nyong’o and Kumail Nanjiani presented the award for production design. Before they gave the award, they both spoke about being immigrants, and how they stood by the Dreamers.

Actor Eugenio Derbez, while presenting the song from Coco, makes a comment about how there are no walls in the afterworld.

#OscarsSoWhite they totally missed Eugenio Derbez’s joke about the walls #Oscars

— Al V (@ChiRanter) March 5, 2018

Coco won Best Animated Feature Film, and the stars discussed how representation matters, and how they hope Coco provides a way for all kids to see someone who looks like them on screen.

Guillermo del Toro won Best Director, and brought up that he is an immigrant.

Activism

Common and Andra Day performed their Oscar-nominated song Stand Up for Something (from Marshall) and invited activists to share the stage. They included: Alice Brown Otter (Standing Rock Youth Council); Bana Alabed (author and Syrian refugee); Bryan Stevenson (Equal Justice Initiative); Cecile Richards (Planned Parenthood Action Fund); Dolores Huerta (Dolores Huerta Foundation, United Farm Workers of America); Janet Mock (#GirlsLikeUs), José Andrés (ThinkFoodGroup); Nicole Hockley (Sandy Hook Promise); Patrisse Cullors (Black Lives Matter); and Tarana Burke (Me Too).

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