Last year, several influential minority filmmakers, actors, and writers--Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith most notably--boycotted the 2016 Academy Awards due to a majority of the nominees being all-white. In fact, it was the second year in a row that the "Best Actor" category was filled by all-white actors. This year, however, there was a better mix of worthy nominees. According to Time.com, "the Academy diversified its voting pool last year," as a result of the frustration with the predominantly white-male voting pool of the past several years.
As a white male myself, I applaud the academy for striving to make the whole affair more inclusive. Film is supposed to represent real-life, which consists of a myriad of people from all walks of life. While this is a substantial leap forward, the entire industry as a whole still suffers from some crippling ailments. One of the most troubling, perhaps, is whitewashing: the casting practice in which white actors are placed into traditionally non-white roles.
The upcoming "Ghost in the Shell" live-action adaptation directed by Rupert Sanders has received some heat for casting Scarlett Johansson as Motoko Kusanagi, a.k.a. the Major. Other questionable casting decisions in recent history, such as Johnny Depp portraying Toto, a Native American character, in "The Long Ranger," and the troubling placement of Emma Stone as mixed-race character Allison Ng in Cameron Crowe's "Aloha"--the last time I checked, Emma Stone is neither of Hawaiian nor of Chinese decent--has not only got many people scratching their heads, but has enraged many equal representation advocates. It's not that there is a lack of Asian and Native American talent.
But unfortunately, there are few who can sell tickets the way that these big-name stars can. In response to the criticism in an interview with Marie Claire magazine, Johansson stated that she would never want to take the role away from an Asian actress. She felt that playing a leading female protagonist was a crucial role that shouldn't be taken lightly. In fairness, if the film didn't have a name as big as Johansson's attached to it, would anyone else see it if they weren't already fans of the franchise?
Aside from the issue of whitewashing, another factor has halted the push for inclusion: politics. Donald Trump's unconstitutional travel ban affected Iranian filmmaker, Asghar Farhadi, whose film "The Salesman" is nominated for "Best Foreign Language Film." As a result, he decided to boycott the Academy Awards. Even if he were offered an extension on Trump's travel ban, as highsnobiety.com notes, he feels that any possible exception for him would consist of, "ifs and buts which are in no way acceptable to me."
No matter how far forward the Academy seems to be moving forward, there will always be hindrances. Hopefully, these obstacles will serve as fuel for minority and foreign filmmakers and talent. The more they push, the closer the barriers will be to breaking.
