A step forward for the Oscars

With the honour bestowed on a film about the Syrian conflict, Hollywood is waking up

A White Helmets volunteer in Aleppo carries an injured child after an airstrike

In our time of unpredictable events, the annual Academy Awards delivered an unexpected finale in Hollywood. The evening’s final award for Best Picture was mistakenly given to the hit musical La La Land after Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were given the wrong award envelope. Amid some confusion, the Oscar was finally handed over to Moonlight, a sobering drama about an African-American living in Miami.

Confusion and drama aside, this year’s Academy Awards will be remembered as the year Hollywood finally opened up to Arab and Muslim viewpoints. For decades, Arabs and Muslims have been portrayed in an especially harsh light in Hollywood films. Such portrayals have fuelled racist and pernicious stereotypes around the world. It is easy to bemoan Hollywood’s long-standing ignorance about the peoples of the Middle East. But there is a change finally taking place.

The Oscar for Best Documentary Short was awarded to The White Helmets, a powerful look at civil defence workers risking everything to save lives in Syria. The film has generated a healthy amount of controversy and debate about the trajectory of the civil war in Syria. For Hollywood to acknowledge such a work demonstrates a shift in how the entertainment industry views the Middle East. In another surprise, Mahershala Ali became the first Muslim actor to take home an Oscar for his supporting role in Moonlight.

We can’t expect the American entertainment industry to transform overnight but it is clear that something is happening. Throughout the ceremony, there was obvious disdain for Donald Trump’s immigration policies and support for marginalised voices in the United States (the Best Picture nod to Moonlight is clear evidence of this trend). After critics harshly condemned last year’s awards for “being too white”, the academy is trying to strike a more inclusive tone.

As such, this region should support these baby steps and continue to underline the variety of viewpoints and opinions that exist in this region.