I'm thrilled this morning after last night's win by Moonlight as the surprise Best Picture winner at the Oscars, which is now the first LGBT-themed film to take the top prize ever!
It's also the first film with an all-black cast to win Best Picture at the Oscars! Bravo!
After previous disappointments, especially Brokeback Mountain's sad loss to a far lesser film in 2005, one might have assumed a queer movie would never earn the consensus of a body of voters known for their traditional choices and love of grandiose epics. But last night that changed as the best film of 2016 prevailed, as far as I'm concerned.
We can also probably thank the Academy's preferential balloting system which allows the film with the most widespread support in the Best Picture category to rise to the top with subsequent ballot counts over polarizing or flawed front runners. It happened last year when Spotlight beat out The Revenant. And it happened last night too.
It's also wonderful that this win is shared both by people of colour and queer people together. That was the magic of Moonlight as it presented African-American characters that are marginalized in our society, including the LGBT community itself, and made their struggles and loves universal. This is exactly what the world needed at this moment of increasing and alarming hatred and ignorance.
I'll soon buy a copy of this classic film. Maybe I'll even go see it again in the theatre to celebrate. If you haven't enjoyed the poetic beauty of Moonlight, I encourage you to do so as soon as possible.
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