This was Hollywood at its sanitized best. After months of horrifying revelations about widespread sexual harassment and assault in the industry, the 90th Academy Awards presented a toothless, feel-good nod to the scandal.
So many of this year’s films feature transgressive female characters —Frances McDormand’s hell-bent mother in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Margot Robbie’s blue-collar ice dancer in “I, Tonya” — but little of that anger made it onstage.
After winning for lead actress, McDormand asked every female nominee to stand and be acknowledged, a graceful gesture of support by a woman for women.
But where you might have expected some righteous rage, Oscar delivered only paeans to inclusiveness.
Earlier, a trio of actresses — all of whom were victimized by Harvey Weinstein — stood together onstage and declared that women were finally speaking as “a mighty chorus,” as one of them, Ashley Judd, put it.
FULL COVERAGE: Academy Awards 2018 | Red carpet | Winners room
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Costume designer Mark Bridges (“Phantom Thread”), with Helen Mirren in tow, rides onstage with the jet ski he won for having the fastest winners’ speech during the telecast of the 90th Academy Awards.
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Guillermo del Toro and the cast of “The Shape of Water” assemble onstage after the film wins the top prize at the 90th Academy Awards on Sunday.
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Guillermo del Toro celebrates the power of storytelling as he accepts the Oscar for directing “The Shape of Water.”.
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Jimmy Kimmel and Mark Hamill walk among the crowd during the telecast of the 90th Academy Awards.
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Actors Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty prepare to announce the best picture winner at the 90th Academy Awards.
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Ashley Judd, from left, Annabella Sciorra and Salma Hayek present a Time’s Up segment during the telecast of the 90th Academy Awards.
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Jane Fonda and Helen Mirren present the Oscar for lead actor.
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Jodie Foster, left, and Jennifer Lawrence present the award for lead actress, stepping in after Casey Affleck withdrew from the show.
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Nominees Margot Robbie, Saoirse Ronan, Sally Hawkins and Meryl Streep hug after the lead actress award, which went to Frances McDormand, was announced.
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Frances McDormand accepts the award for lead actress for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, then prepares to say a few things.
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Gary Oldman accepts his Oscar for lead actor in “Darkest Hour.”
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Keala Settle performs during the 90th Academy Awards at Hollywood & Highland in Hollywood.
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Performers with Keala Settle wander into the audience during the telecast of the 90th Academy Awards.
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Actress Nicole Kidman prepares to present the Oscar for original screenplay.
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Guillermo del Toro delivers a speech after he won the directing Oscar for “The Shape of Water.”
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French composer Alexandre Desplat accepts his Oscar for original score for “The Shape of Water.”
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Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez are overcome after winning original song for “Remember Me” from the animated film “Coco” during the 90th Academy Awards.
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Roger Deakins wins the Oscar for cinematography for “Blade Runner 2049” at the 90th Academy Awards.
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Writer-director Jordan Peele holds his Oscar for original screenplay for “Get Out” during the telecast of the 90th Academy Awards.
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Lin-Manuel Miranda, left, and Emily Blunt present the award for best original song at the Oscars.
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Writer-director Jordan Peele is congratulated by “Get Out” star Daniel Kaluuya for winning the Oscar for original screenplay.
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Eddie Vedder performs during the “In Memoriam” tribute at the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre.
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The crowd reacts as James Ivory wins the Oscar for adapted screenplay for “Call Me by Your Name” during the telecast of the 90th Academy Awards.
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Common and Andra Day perform a song from “Marshall” during the telecast of the 90th Academy Awards.
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Lee Smith wins the film editing Oscar for “Dunkirk,” with presenter Matthew McConaughey leading him offstage.
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Nicole Kidman steps onto the stage to present the award for original screenplay at the Oscars.
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Actors Chadwick Boseman and Margot Robbie speak onstage during the 90th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre.
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Sufjan Stevens sings during the telecast of the 90th Academy Awards.
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Actor Matthew McConaughey speaks during the 90th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre.
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Filmmakers Rachel Shenton and Chris Overton accept the Academy Award for live action short film for “The Silent Child.”
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Comedian Dave Chappelle speaks onstage during the 90th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre.
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Tiffany Haddish, left, and Maya Rudolph present the award for best documentary short subject at the Oscars.
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Gina Rodriguez presents John Nelson with the award for visual effects for “Blade Runner 2049” at the Oscars.
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Filmmaker Frank Stiefel accepts the Acaemy Award for short subject documentary for “Heaven Is a Traffic Jam on the 405.”
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Daniela Vega, star of foreign-language Oscar winner “A Fantastic Woman,” introduces a song performance during the 90th Academy Awards.
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Actor Matthew McConaughey introduces the film editing nominees onstage during the 90th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center.
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“The Last Jedi’s” BB-8 accompanies actors Oscar Isaac, Mark Hamill and Kelly Marie Tran onstage during the 90th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in L.A.
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NBA champ Kobe Bryant, left, and Glen Keane accept the Academy Award for animated short film for “Dear Basketball.”
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Host Jimmy Kimmel interacts with his 9-year-old self in a skit during the telecast of the 90th Academy Awards.
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Director Sebastián Lelio accepts the Oscar for foreign-language film “A Fantastic Woman” from Chile.
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Allison Janney accepts the supporting actress Academy Award for “I, Tonya” during the 90th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre.
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Mark Rizzo, left, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten win the Academy Award for sound mixing for “Dunkirk.”
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Rita Moreno presents the award for best foreign language film at the Oscars.
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Presenters Lupita Nyong’o and Kumail Nanjiani give a shout-out to “all the Dreamers out there” onstage during the 90th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre.
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Jeffrey A. Melvin, from left, Paul Denham Austerberry and Shane Vieau accept the Academy Award for production design for “The Shape of Water.”
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Singers Miguel and Natalia Lafourcade perform “Remember Me” from the animated film “Coco” onstage during the 90th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre.
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Natalia Lafourcade and Miguel perform on a colorful stage during the 90th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre.
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Actors Eiza Gonzalez and Ansel Elgort walk onstage during the 90th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center.
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Director Bryan Fogel, right, celebrates next to producer Dan Cogan, bottom, after they won the Oscar for documentary feature for “Icarus” during the 90th Academy Awards.
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Greta Gerwig, left, and Laura Dern walk onstage to present the award for best documentary feature at the Oscars.
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Taraji P. Henson speaks onstage, introducing a performance by Mary J. Blige, during the 90th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre.
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Mary. J Blige performs “Mighty River” from “Mudbound” at the Oscars.
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Sam Rockwell accepts the suppoorting actor Academy Award for “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” at the 90th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre at the Hollywood & Highland Center.
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Actress Helen Mirren presents the jet ski that Oscar winners could take home if they have the shortest speech during the 90th Academy Awards.
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Host Jimmy Kimmel motions towards the Oscar statue, speaking about its characteristics that make Oscar “the ideal man,” during the opening monologue during the 90th Academy Awards.
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Host Jimmy Kimmel delivers his opening monologue at the 90th Academy Awards.
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Host Jimmy Kimmel speaks onstage during the 90th Academy Awards.
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Someone dressed as the amphibious creature from “The Shape of Water” is guided through the crowd during the telecast of the 90th Academy Awards.
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Director Greta Gerwig walks through the crowd in the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center in Hollywood before the Academy Awards show begins.
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Director Steven Spielberg takes a photo with his phone during the telecast of the 90th Academy Awards.
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“Mudbound” and “Black Panther” cinematographer Rachel Morrison greets others before the telecast of the 90th Academy Awards in the Dolby Theatre.
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Meryl Streep greets Jennifer Lawrence before the telecast of the 90th Academy Awards in the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center.
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Christopher Plummer looks for his seat before the telecast of the 90th Academy Awards.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) Judd stood with Annabella Sciorra and Salma Hayek, as she spoke of “equality, diversity, inclusion and intersectionality.”
None specifically mentioned harassment. Nor demanded an end to the misogyny that has been at the root of Hollywood’s often grotesque treatment of women. (If you didn’t know they were Weinstein victims, you would not have known by watching.)
Their words prefaced a video that seemed more on point for last year, when #OscarsSoWhite was the sub-theme of the ceremony. In it, directors Ava DuVernay, Greta Gerwig and Dee Rees, actors Kumail Nanjiani and Mira Sorvino, whose career was demonstrably harmed after she refused Weinstein’s advances, spoke hopefully about the importance of storytelling and inclusion.
Although this year’s winners were, as always, overwhelmingly white and male, they emerged from the most diverse collection of nominees that included some milestones for women like Gerwig and Rachel Morrison, the first female cinematographer to be nominated for an Oscar.
Jordan Peele’s win earned one of the longest standing ovations of the night, not just because “Get Out” was such a wonderful, unexpected film, but because he made history as the first African American to take home the statuette for original screenplay.
Maybe it was too much to hope for something beyond Jimmy Kimmel’s monologues. It was a pleasure to hear him devote so much of his opening to the “Time’s Up” and #Me Too movements but he didn’t really call anyone out by name except Harvey Weinstein, though he surely could have, as he seemed to suggest.
“The academy expelled Harvey Weinstein last year,” Kimmel said, adding: “There were a lot of nominees and Harvey deserves it the most.”
There were no Ryan Seacrest jokes (too close to home, I guess, since Seacrest was on the red carpet Sunday afternoon, struggling to get all the A-listers who usually stop by the E! Booth to discuss their couture choices.)
Nor was there any allusion to the sexual assault scandal that nearly derailed the career of basketball legend Kobe Bryant.
Bryant sat happily in the orchestra, soon to be named an Oscar winner for the animated short “Dear Basketball.” In the press room after he briefly spoke onstage, the scandal did not come up.
Kimmel did mention the brief controversy that enveloped Mark Wahlberg when it was revealed he had been paid $1.5 million to his costar Michelle Williams’ $80-a-day rate to reshoot some scenes for the Oscar-nominated “All the Money in the World.” But of course, Wahlberg very publicly announced that he would donate that money to the #MeToo and Time’s Up movement.
A powerful, symbolic moment came during the performance of the song “Stand Up for Something” by Common and Andra Day. Standing silently behind the singers was a tableau of black-clad activists, including Tarana Burke, the African American activist who first coined the phrase “Me Too” years before the Weinstein scandal rocked the entertainment industry and spread to almost every profession.
At the end of the song, she raised her arms and crossed her fists above her head.
And that was as angry as anyone got.
robin.abcarian@latimes.com
Twitter: @AbcarianLAT
