When Frances McDormand walked on the stage to collect her award for the Best Actress at Oscars 2018, my heart was thumping. It wasn't just because I was so ecstatic that she won. I mean, have you watched Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri? That movie is so damn rad. But apart from the fact that the award was so well deserved, it was the speech that I was looking forward to. And we weren't disappointed. She was hyperventilating, shivering with joy, hysterical almost as she requested all the female nominees in every category stand with her, to bring home the point that not only were the Oscars far more diverse with each year but also to remind that these women and the ones all around the globe, they all have stories to tell, and tell them they will.
She ended her speech with two words: 'inclusion rider.' Now many people it seems weren't really aware of what that is. Then 2 Broke Girls creator and Whitney creator Whitney Cummings posted a tweet about it.
an inclusion rider is something actors put into their contracts to ensure gender and racial equality in hiring on movie sets. We should support this for a billion reasons, but if you can't find a reason to, here's one: it will make movies better.
— Whitney Cummings (@WhitneyCummings) March 5, 2018
Frances McDormand herself explained what the term means backstage at the Oscars.
Frances McDormand explains an inclusion rider backstage at the #Oscars: "You can ask for or demand at least 50% diversity in not only the casting and the crew." https://t.co/EIAHjQyV6Ypic.twitter.com/tJWnhMro0W
Comments — Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 5, 2018
So here was another instance where an important subject that should be talked about was brought to light by one receiving an award. Take a moment to remember Patricia Arquette's 'equal pay' speech at Oscars 2015.
But this wasn't the only time that happened during the night. In fact, Jimmy Kimmel's opening monologue at the ceremony was sprinkled with much needed sliders for #MeToo, Times Up, and Never Again movements which speak against sexual harassment, gun violence, and inequality against women. Kimmel talked about how "what happened with Harvey (expulsion from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) was long overdue. We can't let bad behaviour slide anymore."
Actresses Ashley Judd, Salma Hayek, and Annabella Sciorra took the stage together to speak on the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. All three had spoken over the past year about Harvey Weinstein's alleged sexual misconduct.
Not just that, Jimmy Kimmel also made it a point to point out how there was much to be celebrated when it came to the diversity that the Hollywood was seeing now - from Black Panther and Wonder Woman (which starred an African-American cast and a woman in lead roles respectively), first ever female nominee for cinematography, Greta Gerwig was the first woman to be nominated for director in eight years, Daniela Vega was the first openly transgender person to ever present at the Oscars.
This is not the first time that Oscars have been used as a platform to talk about things that matter, and things that should be talked about. Terrorism, presidential elections, unequal wages, racism, civil rights... over the years many speeches were more than just an acceptance of an award.
As we see the conversations that are being brought in the fore front, these are times that will be remembered for being the harbinger of change. The dream is that years later, no one will have to point out how the diversity is to be celebrated because diversity, equality and acceptance will be an intrinsic part of not just the movies but every fraternity around the world.
And not just the nominations and the acceptance speeches, it is also movies, the stories that are now being told that celebrate the human emotion and essence rather than playing in the stereotypes. From Call Me By Your Name, to The Big Sick, to Get Out, to I, Tonya, to A Fantastic Woman, and even Coco...the films are not just films but a movement in themselves with that they tell and touch in us.
So they keep the Times Up badges on, we keep the white roses and the orange pins on our lapels, and keep being the voices of reason and truth. And hope for the best. And as do we.
As Queen Ramonda said to T'Challa in Black Panther, "My son, it is your time."
