Don't get me wrong. I was more than happy when I saw my favorite film of the year, "Mad Max," had captured 10 of the Oscar nominations announced earlier this week. My eyes skimmed over the lists, noting yet another Leonardo DiCaprio nomination (my bets are he wins this time). However, as I finished reading through the scores of names, I noticed a stark, and wholly typical, fact: most of the films and figures nominated were white.
Last year, the Oscars fell under deep scrutiny and scolding when almost all of the nominations (and winners) were white. Feeling satisfied with themselves, the liberal media retreated, thinking that this year would be different.
Well, surprise! It wasn't. All 20 of the acting nominations were given to white actors. Almost all best picture movies feature primarily white casts. However, the biggest injustice came not at what was nominated, but what wasn't nominated. Micheal B. Jordan was snubbed for Best Actor for his work in "Creed" and "Straight out of Compton" received just one measly nomination for Best Original Screenplay. What made the whole "Creed" nomination worse was that Sylvester Stallone, the only important white character in the movie, received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
It isn't a lack of talent or a lack of popularity that is leaving these characters and these stories un-nominated. For any critic that dare make this argument, black movies and actors don't "deserve" a nomination because they are black. They deserve a nomination because they are better -- they are acted better, shot better and do better in the box office. This lack of nominations represents a fundamental problem with the film industry: what stories are chosen to become movies, who is chosen to direct, shoot or act in those movies, and who decides what movies should be nominated for an award. As people are finally starting to realize, most of the people in these said categories, are white.
It is time for majorities to stop deciding what stories are told and in what way they are told. It's depressing to live in a world when transgendered characters are portrayed as a problem others need to adapt around ("Transparent") or that a strong black male actor has a long shot of winning an Oscar. I believe the Oscars should award talent as much as they should highlight what stories are important for society to watch. It's important for stories featuring minorities to begin winning. America isn't white-washed anymore. Therefore, the Oscars shouldn't be.
