The parade of black dresses and strong women at the recent Golden Globes made abundantly clear the intended message -- Time’s Up! The campaign is a Hollywood-led response to workplace sexual harassment; but that night, sins of omission were at the conversation forefront as much as sins of commission. It’s not just about the end of mistreatment, it’s about the beginning of true inclusion. I recently wrote about how women have been historically cheated of their place in the arts and how that has basically been a huge fucking bummer for everybody. However, the idea of affirmative action or quota programs within the creative process is troublesome, to say the least.
Take Sasheer Zamata, a recent departure from “Saturday Night Live”. She joined the cast in 2014 after some backlash against SNL led producers to hold an audition exclusively for black women. The fact that this doesn’t make any sense for, say, Asian women, transgender adults over 40, bald Hispanic guys with a killer Dwayne Johnson impression, whatever, is beside the point. It was an inherently less competitive casting process than every other player on the show faced. The result? Zamata’s tenure on SNL was almost invisible. Constantly playing the “straight” role (when she was in sketches at all), she did not produce even a handful of recurring characters or memorable moments (her legacy - this one brilliant line in Black Jeopardy). And oh by the way, just a year after this totally Schruted attempt at progress, who came along but Leslie Jones -- a black woman who cut her teeth to make the show and has done nothing but thrive into fan favoritism ever since.
The #OscarsSoWhite controversy might also be examined. #HollywoodSoWhite? Absolutely. #CastingDirectors and #WritersSoWhite. Totally 100%. But the Oscars floor is on the opposite end of the sausage factory from where the code violations are happening. “Straight Outta Compton” was great, but it always was a summer blockbuster as opposed to an Oscar hopeful. And did anyone actually see “Concussion” with Will Smith? Michael B. Jordan starred in Rocky fucking 7 for god sakes. The fact is, a black actor nominee wasn’t there that year. When Lupita Nyong’o won two years before, and when Mahershala Ali won the year after, it wasn’t because the Academy put their white hoods in the closet and got their fucking heads on straight, and it wasn’t because it would be progressively swell for a person of color to win; it was only because those actors did incredible work. And that, not custom auditions or award season hashtag campaigns, is where it starts.
The Sasheer Zamata hiring and 2016 Oscars felt a bit shoulder-shruggingly awkward, a bit white guy shuffling some papers and saying “well, certainly something to take into consideration”. The Golden Globes on the other hand felt triumphant for women, a night with a clear mission and future. The cast of “Big Little Lies” looked just about as I-Am-Woman-Hear-Me-Roar badass cleaning up at the show as they did tag-team murdering Alexander Skarsgård in the show. Saoirse Ronan and Millie Bobby Brown were some of the most anticipated red carpet arrivals. “The Shape of Water” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”, both with female leads, emerged as Oscar favorites. On the whole, the many topical speeches -- like this one from Elizabeth Moss: "We no longer live in the blank white spaces at the edge of print. We no longer live in the gaps between the stories. We are the story in print, and we are writing the story ourselves." -- landed not because everyone is nice and inclusive these-a-days, but because female creators had a hell of a year. If studio heads at the top and us tweeting, review-reading, popcorn-eating fans are simply open to it, that will continue, from all marginalized groups. With simple open minds to dope entertainment there’ll be no need for affirmative action and the Oscars will be nothing but gold.
