The 2026 award season ended a few weeks ago with the Oscars. Oscar season lasted a month longer than usual, and you could unfortunately tell. Everyone at the ceremony had a weary vibe to them, as if they were just happy things would be over soon. Despite the fact there was such a wait for the Oscars, there were still plenty stuffed into them. So much happened this year. Some things, such as Jessie Buckley winning best actress, could be seen miles away.  Others, like Michael B. Jordan winning best actor, were a bit more surprising, due to the academy’s incredibly poor history when it comes to its treatment of actors of color.

However, the age-old institution followed through on one of its oldest traditions; overly rewarding a director after making them languish without an Oscar for years. In this case, that director was Paul Thomas Anderson. Anderson’s movie, “One Battle After Another,” is a political thriller based off of “Vineland,” a book from 1990. The movie itself was fine, but it’s hard not to notice that many of its most radical themes about white supremacy were replicated in “Sinners,” a movie that was written and directed by a Black person and was heavily influenced by Black culture. This is opposed to “One Battle After Another,” which was written by and filmed by white people. Even when it comes to progressive movies, the academy has a funny way of awarding the whitest person in the room.

Despite my complaints, this is not to say that no achievements were made. Autumn Durald Arkapaw became the first woman, and especially first woman of color, to win best cinema photographer. All in all, the 2026 Oscars was a night of following the well-trodden path, with a few twists.