There's been a lot of buzz about the Oscars lately, and it's not hard to see why. The awards show had its 88th ceremony on February 28th, crowning winners like "Spotlight" for Best Picture, Brie Larson for Leading Actress, and of course, Leonardo DiCaprio for Leading Actor.
The current issue with the Academy Awards, though, is the lack of diversity. Everyone knows it. Chris Rock talked about it when he hosted. Directors, like J.J. Abrams and Spike Lee, have discussed it, at length. We've seen #OscarsSoWhite trend for two years in a row.
Yet, the problem persists. If we're being honest, this diversity problem can be summed up quicker by who is represented, rather than who isn't. Who is starring in the movies? Who is directing the movies? Who is winning the awards in the industry?
The answer: Straight white men.
Almost all of the top 100 films of 2014 had something in common: a male dominance. 98.1% of the directors and 88.8 percent of the writers were males. In the entire history of the Academy Awards, only one woman has ever won Best Director (Kathryn Bigelow won in 2010). In the top 500 films from 2007 to 2012, only 10.7 percent featured casts where gender ration was 50:50.
Numbers can be hard to grasp, though. Just think back on the last movie you saw. Was the main character a man? Were the female roles limited to women who existed solely to help men, to please men? Hollywood demotes women to eye-candy, because it's easy for them.
Women are more likely than men to be shown in sexually revealing clothes or no clothing at all. Not only does the media use women's bodies as currency in exchange for more viewers, but they also diminish women to lesser roles in the movies. Less than 20 percent of female characters are shown to be working, while over 80 percent of men are working characters.
Some might say that there is no solution to the gender gap in the media industry. People are happy to brush the issue aside and continue watch movies where white guys named Chris dominate the action. If nothing is done, though, this pattern will continue to degrade women.
What can we do? What can the industry do to level the playing ground for women, on screen and behind the camera?
Recently, people within the industry have started working to change things. Ryan Murphy, a screenwriter, producer and director, has started "Half," an organization hoping to increase diversity. He is committed to having 50 percent of all director slots on his shows filled by either women or minority candidates. Geena Davis founded See Jane and organized the Bentonville Film Festival, which required films to have a certain amount of female and minority cast and crew members.
There are many problems in the media industry, but we can't talk about one without talking about the others. We need more diverse casts and characters. We need white women, black women, Asian women, Hispanic women. We need straight characters, gay characters, questioning characters, transgender characters.
We need diversity in every aspect of the movies.
