Despite Everything, The 2022 Oscars Were A Win For Intersectionality

gamerant.com:

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.

5 DC Movies That Were Canceled

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.

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