Oscars show how diversity and pluralism enrich creativity

Asghar Farhadi in a The Salesman’s press conference, Taraneh Alidoosti in his left and Shahab Hosseini in right Photo Credit:  Hamed Malekpour via Wikimedia Commons

Oscars, the grandest of awards in the film industry, became amphitheater of diversity and inclusiveness at two levels – the American society and the global community.

Notwithstanding the unprecedented moment of mishap in the Academy’s award for Best Picture to Moonlight, the Oscars celebrated American diversity with a ringing call.

Cheers and tears alternated, and sometimes mingled at Hollywood’s Dolby Theater as a star-studded gathering emotionally recognized accomplishments of artists and producers including African Americans, Iranians, Syrians and Mahershala Ali.

In a world rocked by exclusionary politics of Brexit and the 2016 US election as well as the U.S. ban on Syrian refugees and travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries, the Oscars showcased the best of humanity, spotlighting both artistic achievements of films like La La Land and the good human beings could do to one another.

Perhaps, no other production tells what nobility of human beings can do to save their fellow beings in the time of conflict as documentary “The White Helmets.”

The head of the group of Syrian volunteers, who have saved 82,000 civilian lives including children in the face of catastrophic civil war, could not make it to the Oscars.

But producers read a statement from Raed Saleh, leader of the Syria Civil Defense group, asking the audience to “stand up and tell them how much we want this war to end as soon as possible.”

Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi stayed away from the Oscars in protest against President Donald Trump’s travel ban on citizens from seven countries including Iran. Farhadi’s “The Salesman” won Best Foreign Language Film award. Astronaut Anousheh Ansari – the first Muslim woman in space – accepted the award on Farhadi’s behalf.

Gael García Bernal, presenting the nominees for best animated feature film, spoke out against “walls.”

“Flesh and blood actors are migrants, we travel all over the world, we build families, we construct stories, we build life that cannot be divided,” García Bernal said. “As a Mexican, as a Latin American, as a migrant worker, as a human being, I’m against any form of walls that wants to separate us.”

The United States has defended the travel ban – now suspended under Court orders- saying it seeks to keep suspected terrorists out of the United States. The Trump Administration also plans to build a wall along US-Mexican border as part of the policy to stop illegal immigration.

Viola Davis, who won the award for best actress in a Supporting Role for her performance alongside Denzel Washington in Fences, praised the spirit of support.

“You know, there’s one place with all the people with the greatest potential are gathered, and that’s the graveyard,” she said. “People ask me all the time, ‘What kind of stories do you want to tell, Viola?’ And I say, exhume those bodies, exhume those stories. The stories of the people who dream big and never saw those dreams to fruition. People who fell in love and lost.”

“Moonlight” director Barry Jenkins, receiving the award for best adapted screenplay, said: “If you feel like there is no mirror for you, the Academy has your back.”

Mahershala Ali won the first major acting award of the night, best supporting actor for Moonlight, and a groundswell of support and appreciation.

The Academy Awards also serve as a testimony to America’s inherent multicultural complexion and the monumental achievements the United States has made in the fields of arts, music, film and many literature while, at the same time, encouraging actors and producers from around the world to pursue creativity. Last year, a Pakistani producer Sharmeen Obaid Chinoi won her second successive Oscar, highlighting in a documentary the need to stem violence against women.