It’s been a full decade now since I attended the Academy Awards ceremony for this very same publication, and chat, I am feeling, like, totally cooked. I’m so unc’d, it’s cringe, fam.

The article was titled “My first Oscars”, which is a terribly presumptuous statement, because it assumes there will be a second or a third. Despite my best efforts, it remains my only Oscars. I reread the piece to prepare to once again write about the Academy Awards for the Guardian, and I was shocked by how mundane the whole experience came across on the page. As befitting the much younger, more crass version of myself, there was a lot of eyerolling and snark about how soulless the event was. Also, I wouldn’t stop talking about seeing Gary Busey.

A lot has changed since 2016, and I probably don’t need to waste a bunch of time telling you exactly how.

The big talking point of that year, dominated by the investigative journalism drama Spotlight, was the #OscarsSoWhite social media movement, which was attempting to raise awareness for the lack of diversity in the Academy’s nominations and their voting body. It was the spiciest part of an otherwise drab affair hosted by Chris Rock, who at the time had no idea that hosting the show would become the least memorable part of his place in Oscar history.

In 2026, when retreats from DEI initiatives are widespread in corporate America and the term “woke” is considered a slur, it shouldn’t be surprising that no one is talking about such things anymore. But it does feel like the Academy has made progress in broadening its membership, and the Best........

© The Guardian