In 2018, the Academy Awards’ Best Picture category featured an impressive range of films, including Call Me By Your Name, Ladybird, Dunkirk, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing. Yet, it was Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water that captured the top prize, marking a pivotal moment in Oscar history. This film reshaped perceptions of what kind of stories could win, blending fantasy and romance in a way that challenged established norms surrounding the Guillermo del Toro Oscars legacy.
The Traditional Oscar Formula Before The Shape of Water
Before The Shape of Water’s breakthrough, “Oscar bait” was often a term attached to films that seemed designed solely to win awards, usually grounded in historical dramas, biographies, or social realism. These movies adhered to a conservative formula favored by an older, more traditional Academy voting body. The industry prioritized prestige films with polished lighting, restrained dialogue, and orchestral scores intended to evoke specific emotions.
High fantasy, horror, and broad genre storytelling were routinely sidelined, confined mostly to technical categories like makeup or visual effects. Even large-scale blockbusters rarely broke through to contend for Best Picture, as the Academy preferred stories centered on royalty, real-life heroes, or inspiring American history. Securing a Screen Actors Guild Best Ensemble nomination was often seen as essential, reflecting how tightly interconnected the awards circuit had become.
This system produced a predictable awards season that consistently excluded edgier or more imaginative works. However, the mid-2010s brought a seismic change as the Academy faced widespread backlash for its lack of diversity. Protests pushed the institution to expand its membership by inviting thousands of younger, more international, and diverse voters, fundamentally disrupting the old voting patterns.
The new, diverse Academy members sought films that blurred genre lines, embraced international stories, and challenged conventional filmmaking, dismantling the once-monolithic Best Picture preferences. This shift opened the door for fresh narratives that previously wouldn’t have been considered.
The Shape of Water’s Bold Reinvention of Oscar Standards
Known for his uniquely visual and fantastical storytelling, Guillermo del Toro was a risk-taker by presenting The Shape of Water, a Cold War-era romantic fantasy with a monster at its center, during a fiercely competitive awards season. His blend of Hollywood romance with eerie, atmospheric horror created a film that immediately captivated audiences through its rich, textured visuals filled with deep teal and amber hues.
Set in a secret Baltimore government facility, the movie bathes viewers in an environment that appears both expensive and distressed, with rusted pipes and wet concrete emphasizing a sense of slow decay. The fluid camera work evokes the sensation of being underwater, immersing the audience in the film’s sunken reality.
Sally Hawkins offers a remarkable performance as Elisa Esposito, a mute janitor who communicates entirely through sign language and subtle physicality, demanding viewers’ heightened attention. The sound design amplifies minor noises, such as wet rubber or mopping sounds, further drawing the audience into Elisa’s silent world.
Supporting characters Octavia Spencer and Richard Jenkins portray Elisa’s closest friends—a Black cleaning woman and a closeted gay artist—both navigating prejudice in 1960s America. Their performances deepen the film’s focus on marginalized individuals forming a chosen family to resist oppressive authority, symbolized by Michael Shannon’s Colonel Strickland. His portrayal of violent, paranoid power starkly contrasts with the misunderstood aquatic creature held captive in the facility.
The film reverses typical romantic narratives by focusing on the intimate love between Elisa and the amphibious being, portraying physical desire and female sexuality sincerely and maturely, without mockery. This approach to interspecies connection and adult intimacy stands out as a bold artistic choice, exemplified in a striking scene where Elisa floods her bathroom to create an aquatic sanctuary—an emblem of the film’s celebration of outsider identities.
By honoring The Shape of Water, the Academy departed from its usual preference for conventional romantic stories, recognizing a narrative that fused social critique with genre filmmaking and mystical storytelling.
The Lasting Impact of Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar Win on Hollywood
The Shape of Water’s Best Picture win was no fluke; it permanently altered how studios view award-contending films. The victory proved that unconventional, genre-driven stories could thrive in the awards season, encouraging producers and executives to invest in imaginative scripts rather than sticking only to safe, predictable projects. It dismantled the belief that prestige equaled grandeur or austerity.
This transformation became more evident when Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite won Best Picture just two years later, shattering barriers with its unique mix of dark comedy and social commentary. That Korean thriller’s success further opened the floodgates for international cinema at the Oscars, allowing foreign films such as Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest to receive serious recognition in major directing and writing categories.
Audiences grew comfortable engaging with subtitles as international stories gained prominence, shifting perceptions about the global scope of cinematic excellence. This diverse embrace culminated in the unprecedented sweep by Everything Everywhere All at Once, a wild martial arts comedy featuring predominantly Chinese-ethnic actors, which snagged multiple acting awards along with Best Picture. Its win symbolized the definitive end of old Oscar conventions.
Currently, the awards season continues to celebrate genre cinema as a legitimate artistic force. Guillermo del Toro has returned with a high-profile adaptation of Frankenstein, financed through streaming platforms, claiming frontrunner status among winter nominees. This gothic horror epic stands shoulder-to-shoulder with other genre contenders like the vampire thriller Sinners and the alien comedy Bugonia.
The industry now embraces inventive storytelling infused with blood, science fiction, and horror, a testament to how The Shape of Water’s success rewrote the rules. Del Toro’s vision continues to inspire this new era where bold, imaginative films earn their place at the highest levels of cinematic recognition.
