Last year, the Hollywood awards season frequently brought up one question: why is there little diversity in Hollywood? Unfortunately, this question was not stressed again this year, and it should have been. All of the award winners for acting roles in film were white (Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brie Larson, Jennifer Lawrence, Matt Damon, and Sylvester Stallone). On the surface, their people do represent the top sector of actors, the highest paid, the household names, etc. But this does not mean that they are representative of all actors and actresses; the acting profession and excellent performances lay outside of the "white" normalcy in Hollywood.
Jamie Fox on one occasion, and America Ferrara along with Eva Longoria on another, hinted at the ways diversity is factored not only out of the Hollywood awards show season, but also out of "serious" filmmaking. Jamie Foxx, channeling Steve Harvey, pronounced the wrong winner, saying that "Straight Outta Compton" won for best musical score. Personally, this was a slight that I noticed, as the film was critically acclaimed and did quite well at the box office. In my eyes, it was primed for award season, and its absence shocked me. If we want to see diversity on film, this movie should have been nominated somewhere. It created conversation, and was well-made and well-received. It couldn't do much else to win a Globe.
Additionally, Ferrara and Longoria joked that as Latina actresses, viewers see them as interchangeable both between themselves and between other Latina actresses. This, of course, is not the case for everybody, but the stereotype people think of when discussing an actress whose name is escaping them is often "that Mexican actress" or "the Latina." By calling out this situation, the actresses most likely hoped to be funny (which they were) but also to remind viewers of how they are viewed, because "the Latina" certainly does not give an actress enough credit or acknowledgement to award her a Golden Globe; her name needs to be known.
Unfortunately, the climate in Hollywood does not seem as if it will change anytime soon, but some hope is in the air. Leonardo DiCaprio, for example, although white, was urged to change his name at the start of his career to be less "foreign" and "more American," even though he was American (this still confuses me!). He did not make the desired change, and we're all OK. Uzo Aduba of "Orange is the New Black" has also said that she faced a struggle to "Americanize" her name, but did not, because if Americans can pronounce European surnames, then her name should not be any problem either. So far, it has not been one.
To me, the diversity problem in Hollywood then boils down to the executives' fault and not the viewers. When we see diversity, we accept it. We just don't get the bone a lot. If we consumed "Straight out of Compton," are discussing Ferrara and Longoria's message and accepting talented actors regardless of their names, then precedent should prove we are ready to see more non-whites receive nominations and wins for awards.
