As per the annual January tradition, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released their list of nominees for the coveted ceremony. In what was no doubt sparked by the controversial “whitewashed” 88th Academy Awards, this year featured many nominees of all races and backgrounds. Many of the Best Picture nominees feature a diverse cast and crew. Lin-Manuel Miranda is a frontrunner for Best Original Song, making his chances of the coveted EGOT award collection even higher. Despite all this, there was the usual snubs, and of course, controversy continues over certain choices – La La Land being nominated despite featuring two white leads. People will find something to complain about, this is America after all. But are the Oscars always something to find racism in?
In
the early Golden Age of Hollywood, minority actors and crew were not
allowed into the Oscar ceremony. In 1940,
Hattie McDaniel won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (Gone
With the Wind), but the ceremony
was being held at the then-segregated Ambassador Hotel in Los
Angeles. She accepted the award, but was escorted to a table in the
far corner, surrounded by her manager and her personal escort – the
Academy had to call in a favor to make the hotel allow her in, but
with this condition. James Baskett received an honorary award in 1948
due to the campaigning by industry giant Walt Disney, thus being the
first African-American man to win an Oscar. Fast forward many years,
and the Oscars still focused on white-led films, with Seven
Samurai being up for just Best
Costume Design and Art Design, but not Best Picture.
The
2016 ceremony was highly controversial because of the lack of diverse
nominees in the major categories. And while there were many nonwhite
actors, crew, and movies that should have been nominated, we cannot
ignore the “big names” who surprisingly were not nominated
either. For example, while David Oyelowo was not nominated for his
role as Martin Luther King, Jr. in Selma,
Joseph Gordon-Levitt was not nominated for The Walk.
But at the same time, I can see the controversy did have some genuine
points. It is true that white actors usually win the major awards,
and it is true that the minority nominees are usually in the
behind-the-scenes work. And the 2016 nominees weren't necessarily all
that good either, again with The Walk only
getting a visual effects nod. It poses questions of how exactly does
the Academy make these choices, and what makes something/someone
“Best Picture” or “Best Actress” worthy.
The
solution, however, is not to make diversity a requirement for Oscar
nominations. That would only cause studios to either push back a
movie due to the casting/roles required or force a bad movie through
the Academy for the nomination. A film about Queen Victoria could be
the best movie of the year, but if the Academy made a diversity
requirement, it would not get the recognition it deserves. Perhaps
Hollywood just needs to make more movies with more diverse casts –
look at the recent Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
The cast includes Diego Luna and Riz Ahmed in major roles, but it
does not feel like they are in there to fill a quota. Meanwhile,
2015's Fantastic Four
had Michael B. Jordan cast as the Human Torch simply to “appeal to
a diverse audience,” and while Jordan did well in the role, it
caused them to have to rewrite the movie upon casting Kate Mara as
his sister. But let's be real – the casting was the least of
Fantastic Four's
problems.
Another
solution to primarily white actors and productions being nominated is
that more films should be looked at, not just the ones that got a
full theatrical release. Netflix's Beasts of No Nation very
well could have been nominated, and there are countless independently
produced and released movies that have what the Academy is looking
for. But the real issue is that Hollywood doesn't make enough
“Oscar-level” movies with the casts people want to see in said
movies. We're off to a good start on that, with Rogue One
and the upcoming Black Panther,
which is set to be the first primarily African-American cast
superhero movie. Granted, the chances of a superhero movie being
nominated for any major Oscar is slim, though there is The
Dark Knight.
There
were many snubs this year – Silence didn't
get a Best Picture nod, nothing at all for The Founder or
Captain America: Civil War, and
Jeremy Irons was not up for Best Supporting Actor for his work on
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (okay, that may just be personal opinion). The nominations pool is much more
diverse and covers a larger variety of film than in previous years,
but the worst thing they can do is make a “diversity quota” for
the requirements. Films set in early colonial America would not be
valid, nor would one about the mafia. Hollywood just has to allow
more movies to become Oscar contenders, not just ones made to be
Oscar bait. Straight Outta Compton
could have been at least nominated, as the public liked it enough.
But I do see their reasoning when it comes to avoiding movies the
public enjoyed – that way, Deadpool wouldn't
have to compete with something of sustenance and compelling cinema
like Moonlight. Maybe
we just don't know what the Academy does when they select their
finalists. Until we discover their secrets, let's just take what we
have and watch them become more progressive in terms of film. Here's
hoping Black Panther
can gain some traction.
