With the award season fully underway, eyebrow have been going up over the lack of diversity in the recent Academy Awards nominations announcement. Immediately after the January 15 announcements, social media, Twitter in particular, went into a major uproar. The hash tag #OscarsSoWhite went viral after the Academy revealed that all 20 male and female contenders in the acting categories are white.
The Academy’s first black woman president, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, reported to New York magazine blog Vulture “that the organization does not have a diversity problem ‘at all.’” However, many fans, actors, and the like would have to disagree with this sentiment, considering the predominantly white list of artist nominations. This year’s Academy Awards is the whitest Oscars since 1998. Many people have expressed their frustrations as more disappointment than surprise, (i.e. CNN LA correspondent David Daniel “#OscarNoms No female directors, screenwriters, or cinematograhers. No actors of color. #diversity”) because this is neither the first, nor the second time that this has happened. In the last 30 years, the acting categories have been completely devoid of non-white nominees a total of five time (1989, 1992, 1996, 1998, and 2015). Though we supposedly live in a “post-racial” society, it seems the Academy has not received that memo.
This white-washing of the Oscars is quite significant, considering that one of the films snubbed, Selma only received two nominations: “Best Picture” and “Best Song” for Glory (John Legend and Common), without an actor or director nomination. Despite high marks from critics and having the best review for “Best Picture” (receiving a score of 99) of all the nominations, British actor David Oyelowo missed out on a nod for Best Actor for his powerful and chilling performance of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Academy failed recognize the visionary young black Ava DuVernay in the “Best Director” category. Had DuVernay been nominated, she would have made history as the first ever black female to be nominated in that category. Films like Selma remind audiences how relevant and worthy of a discussion the film’s poignant subject matter is. Particularly in light of the unrest over the killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner in Ferguson and New York, respectively, and even locally, echoing heavily on the American conscience, there’s a need for a film such as Selma to remind the country of what has happened and continues to happen…and how we still need change.
A year ago, it appeared as though the Academy had made some strides in diversity. 12 Years of Slave won “Best Picture” along with the ground-breaking win from Lupita Nyong’o in the Best Supporting Actress category. Additionally, Alfonso Cuaron was the first Hispanic man to win Best Director, while Chiwetel Ejiofor won “Best Actor” and Captain Phillips star Barkhad Abdi won “Best Supporting Actor”. Those seemed to be the major talking points, but this year, the nods made a drastic turn.
In response to this lack of diversity, many fans and actors took to Twitter to voice their support for fellow actors:
“So #OscarNoms hmm. Shout out to my brother #DavidOyelowo you’ve been robbed but you’re not defined by this and your talent can’t be taken.” ~ @NoelClarke
#OscarsSoWhite that even The Lego Movie didn't get nominated for Best Animated Film because Morgan Freeman voiced a character. ~ @ShaunKing
The significance of these awards has always been a controversial interest. Now some may argue that the Golden Globes was full of diversity, which is true; however, much of that diversity came from the television genre. Others have given up hope, realizing that waiting for the Academy to recognize diversity and talent may be an infinitely long wait. Since the Academy’s birth, African Americans have had a complex, abstruse relationship with the Academy Awards. Whether they are nominated for roles such as boxers, sharecroppers, drug addicts, abused or scorned women, welfare mothers, maids, psychics, drug dealers, prisoners, or simply not nominated at all, there is hardly an amicable relationship.
Although it is hard to ignore the righteous anger, one can’t help but ask: do actors, actresses, and directors really need the Academy’s approval of their acting talents and gifts?
*As seen also in The Berkeley Graduate
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