Editor's Note: Loraine Ng is a writer and translator based in Shanghai, with an MFA degree from Hong Kong Baptist University. The article reflects the author's opinion and not necessarily views of CGTN.

In 2005, the Oscars witnessed the first Asian to win an Academy Award for Best Director when Ang Lee snatched the trophy. 

In the same year the first gay romance hit the screen with Brokeback Mountain, but lost Best Picture to Crash. Producer James Schamus argued the Academy liked to play it safe.

In 2010, Hurt Locker took home six trophies including Best Picture and Best Director together with three nominations. When the Academy and the public applauded the success of Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Director, some viewed this film as propagating American mainstream values. 

Then in 2016 the #OscarsSoWhite controversy cast a shadow over the Academy Awards, followed by the ongoing #MeToo movement in 2017. These events successfully shifted Hollywood's power dynamics, and only then did many realize the Oscars, deep down, were a purely American product, representing American values that were white and male. 

Are the Oscars becoming more diverse following all of these social movements?  Yes, at least on the surface. 

Recent years have showcased a variety of films featuring diverse plots. The 2017 best picture Moonlight told a story of an African-American gay man. In 2018, Lady Bird, about a rebellious adolescent girl, was even directed by a woman. Call Me by Your Name won Best Adapted Screenplay in 2018 based on a gay romance novel. Winning Best Original Screenplay in 2018, Get Out represented racism in the U.S., written and directed by black filmmaker Jordan Peele, while Shape of Water won 2018's Best Picture.

This year, the Academy nominated Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman and Green Book for Best Picture, all featuring black leading characters. 

When critics lambasted Shape of Water winning 2018's Best Picture, I, however, joined those who supported the Academy's decision.

The film's artistic achievements, visual effects, and story structure are all on par. Moreover, the underlying theme might be biocentric or eco-centric, valuing all life as opposed to an anthropocentric vision that plagues Hollywood, making humans the center of all.

Ideas that challenge anthropocentrism have been popular long before their emergence in the film industry, as in Ted Chiang's film The Great Silence.

The film Gräns, winner of the Un Certain Regard award at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival and now a nominee for Best Makeup and Hairstyling at the 91st Academy Awards, is a film that challenges these notions.

By telling a story of two trolls struggling with the human world, the film's Iranian-Swedish writer and director puts into question audience's anthropocentric tendencies. Abbasi himself is considered an outsider as an artist who immigrated to Europe.

From representations of almost only white men and women towards more people of color and to non-humans, the Oscars are trying to show more diversity. The awards are breaking down the wall between “me” and the “other” and diminish the “me”-centered perspectives and values. 

But despite these strides forward, the overall progress in Hollywood in its representation both behind and in front of the camera has been stagnant over the past 10 years. 

According to a research conducted by the USC's Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, Hollywood's image of a director is still a white man. Likewise, the report says that the majority of speaking roles still belongs to white actors ahead of Asian and Hispanic/Latino characters.

Asian and Hispanic/Latino actors, directors and writers have historically lacked representation in Hollywood, and even if they are represented, stereotypes like “nerdy Asians” are still prevalent. Though the Hispanic film Roma is leading this year's Oscars nominations and Crazy Rich Asians turned out to be a blockbuster last year, they are limited examples illustrating that Hollywood still has a long way to go. 

The movie industry is not as diverse as it could be, and we are all waiting for sweeping changes with regards to representation.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, contact us at opinions@cgtn.com.)