Even after a year marked by a shake-up in the voting membership aimed at making it more diverse, the Oscar nominations (announced on Tuesday night Singapore time) once again showed that the Hollywood elite favours prestige over dollars and stability over change.

Even so, there were a couple of surprises, showing that even if women and minorities do not always get a fair shake, streaming platforms such as Netflix now at least have a seat at the big table, as do non-English works such as the mostly Spanish drama Roma.