The #OscarsSoWhite curse was broken in 2017, but it's still far from enough

It’s been two years since the creation of #OscarsSoWhite, which highlighted the total absence of actors of color nominated for Academy Awards. As many pointed out, 2017 had the potential to be different. A cohort of films starring black casts garnered a ton of buzz, demanding, at the very least, recognition from the most prestigious film award of the year. This morning, the Oscar nominees were announced and, in some major respects, they got it right. But that can’t change the fact that there’s still a long way to go before the Oscars—and the film industry as a whole—fully reflect what America really looks like. Let’s look at the good and the not-so-good about this year’s awards.

THE GOOD

Denzel Washington (Fences) and Ruth Negga (Loving) gained Oscar nods for Best Actor and Best Actress, but it was the Best Supporting awards where people of color really shined. Mashershala Ali (Moonlight) and Dev Patel (Lion) both scored nominations for Best Supporting Actor, Patel becoming the third ever South Asian to get an Oscar nod. And Viola Davis (Fences), Naomie Harris (Moonlight), and Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures) all scored nominations for Best Supporting Actress, with Viola Davis becoming the first ever black actress to garner three Oscar nods.

Four of the five Best Adapted Screenplay nods went to black and brown stories: Fences, Hidden Figures, Lion, and Moonlight. Ava DuVernay received a nomination for her documentary 13th, as did Raoul Peck for I Am Not Your Negro. Arrival cinematographer Bradford Young is the second black person to have ever been nominated for an Oscar. And when it came to the biggest award of the season, Best Picture, the competition was about as stacked as it could get: Fences, Hidden Figures, Lion, and Moonlight were four of the nine contenders.

THE NOT-SO-GOOD

It is incredible to see these amazing stories, directors, cinematographers, and actors, get the recognition they deserve, but let’s not forget that black talent doesn’t encompass all people of color. While Dev Patel saw success, no other Asians were nominated. Latinx talent was also shut out completely (Jackie gained three nomination, but Chilean director Pablo Larraín was snubbed).

While POC-driven stories are still trying to get on the board, films like La La Land are snagging a record-tying 14 Oscar nominations. Clearly, there’s work to do.

Also, women remained shut out of the Best Director category yet again, but noted abuser and monster Mel Gibson saw his baffling 2017 comeback fully cemented with a Best Picture nomination for Hacksaw Ridge. The Oscars just can’t help themselves, can they?

Here’s the full list of 2017 nominees:

Best Picture
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
La La Land
Lion
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight

Best Director
Damien Chazelle, La La Land
Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
Denis Villeneuve, Arrival
Mel Gibson, Hacksaw Ridge

Best Actor
Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Denzel Washington, Fences
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic

Best Actress
Emma Stone, La La Land
Natalie Portman, Jackie
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins
Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Ruth Negga, Loving

Best Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
Dev Patel, Lion
Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea
Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals

Best Supporting Actress
Viola Davis, Fences
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Nicole Kidman, Lion
Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures

Best Adapted Screenplay
Moonlight
Arrival
Fences
Lion
Hidden Figures

Best Original Screenplay
Manchester by the Sea
La La Land
Hell or High Water
The Lobster
20th Century Women

Best Foreign Language Film
Toni Erdmann
The Salesman
Land of Mine
Tanna
A Man Called Ove

Best Documentary Feature
O.J.: Made in America
13th
Fire at Sea
I Am Not Your Negro
Life Animated

Best Animated Feature
Zootopia
Kubo and the Two Strings
The Red Turtle
My Life As a Zucchini
Moana

Best Film Editing
La La Land
Moonlight
Arrival
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water

Best Original Song
“City of Stars,” La La Land
“Audition (The Fools Who Dream),” La La Land
“How Far I’ll Go,” Moana
“Can’t Stop the Feeling,” Trolls
“The Empty Chair,” The James Foley Story

Best Original Score
La La Land
Lion
Jackie
Moonlight
Passengers

Best Cinematography
La La Land
Moonlight
Arrival
Silence
Lion

Best Costume Design
Florence Foster Jenkins
La La Land
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Allied
Jackie

Best Makeup and Hairstyling
Star Trek Beyond
A Man Called Ove
Suicide Squad

Best Production Design
La La Land
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Hail, Caesar!
Arrival
Passengers

Sound Editing
Hacksaw Ridge
Arrival
Deepwater Horizon
La La Land
Sully

Sound Mixing
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Hacksaw Ridge
La La Land
Arrival
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Visual Effects
The Jungle Book
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Kubo and the Two Strings
Doctor Strange
Deepwater Horizon

Best Short Film, Live Action
Timecode
Silent Nights
La Femme et le TGV
Ennemis Interieurs
Sing

Best Short Film, Animated
Piper
Pearl
Borrowed Time
Blind Vaysha
Pear Cider and Cigarettes

Best Documentary, Short Subject
Joe’s Violin
The White Helmets
Extremis
Watani: My Homeland
4.1 Miles