General News #Oscarssowhite - The 2016 Oscars scandal

It has just been announced that the academy awards membership will be changed to become more diverse, this in response to weeks of protesting re the lack of "people of color" in this year's Oscar nominations.

http://deadline.com/2016/01/oscars-...women-and-diverse-members-by-2020-1201688409/

To be perfectly frank I've found this whole affair to be a bit ridiculous.

Whilst naturally as an LGBT person I am 100% against discrimination, we cannot expect fully proportional representation in every field and every instance going. Be it sports, film, television - some fields may be dominated by a particular race, that does not automatically equal deliberate "racism" - there may be other factors at play. For example basketball - historically has been predominately a black sport - racist? No.

I might love if 10% of Oscar nominees were LGBT to reflect society, but if there aren't even 10% of LGBT actors in award-worthy films it would be absolutely ridiculous for me to demand this. At the end of the day films tend to be made with the majority audience in mind (which given the cost of filming does kind of make sense), so in America films are going to often gravitate towards white heterosexual characters (just as Bollywood films gravitate to Indian characters, Korean films will do the same etc etc). That may not be fully representative or even fair, but it does make sense.

The protests themselves I have to take issue with also;
-The use of language "lily-white", "lacking in flava" etc - it really is divisive language and rather hypocritically in a conversation on racism, construing white skin using negative connotations ("bland", "pale" etc). We would not discuss basketball for example as being "ink black", so why are demeaning terms like "lily-white" appropriate?
-The presumption that the Oscar nominations would have to feature proportional nominees every year (there has been a lot of talk about how it is appalling this has "happened the last two years")
-The use of the term "people of color" when this has clearly largely been about African American representation at the expense of discussions on Hispanic and Asian actors for example (who apparently don't seem to matter).

Now I would agree:
-A more diverse voting panel "may" give the awards more accountability, although then there is the question of why this is necessary. Are we expecting the new black members to vote for black actors for instance, would it still be problematic and protest-worthy if they don't? It's like with politics, the idea of 50/50 male/female cabinets/governments does not always make things representative
-We probably need more diversity in nominations to recognise emerging talent (as Oscar buzz tends to focus on the A-Lister elite rather than unknown actors)
-We should have a system where anyone (regardless of race, sexuality, disability etc) has an equal chance of becoming an actor and receiving recognition for their work BUT until we have equal casting and access to roles it is pretty unfair to blame the Oscars at the end of the chain (i.e. judging the finished products) for being heinously discriminatory.

 

Looking at your suggestions:
-Will Smith - I like him as an actor although I have heard a great deal who do not consider him that talented, criticisms that "he only plays himself". Now I would personally disagree but that could explain lack of recognition, rather than race. He has however received two Oscar nominations in his career (and nominations are often worth as much as awards in this business), so I think it is rather hypocritical of him to be taking such a public stand here, and highly disrespectful to the great actors who have been nominated
-Idris Elba - He just isn't award-worthy yet, he cannot do accents to save his life and just isn't that believable in roles. He is a sexy guy, but eye candy does not equal Oscar worthy
-Michael B Jordan in Creed - I think perhaps let down by the film/character. Creed being just a Rocky reboot and following the same patterns. Arguably wrong if his acting was award worthy, but "Best Actor" traditionally has a lauded film behind it rather than yet another "sequel" in a long line of sequels.

But again you have reiterated by point that "people of color" is being falsely used to discuss just black people, rather than Hispanic, Native American or Asian people who are equally snubbed (if not more so!).

But how so, for the first half of that history there was vast inequality in society across the board (be it schools, business, film etc) so it would be foolish to think the Academy awards would be an exception. And still in recent times, black people are still a minority in America, and consequently a. there are more white actors, and b. big budget films are often targetted towards the white majority so it is not surprising a film awards nomination list would reflect that.

At the end of the day as a minority myself, if I walk into an all straight room (as chance often creates) am I entitled to shout "homophobia!" or "hetero-privilige!", or refuse to stay? Or would I be expected to realise that these things can happen when I am a minority, and those in that room may be perfectly respectful and supportive towards me as a minority. I've yet to see #BollywoodsoIndian calls attacking that film industry for not catering to non-Indian audiences in terms of actor representation?

1. Privilege is really not hard and fast; let's take Kayne West for example, who has grown up with economic privilege many black and white people will never experience
2. Not all liberals are white so you cannot assume white privilege anyway
3. Even if non-racist is not good enough, black people also have to take some responsibility for ending racism (see below) so it is not all in the hands of white people

But we have seen a move in more black actors who are winning awards in recent times (as you mention, Lupita Nyong'o being one).

Besides role models are not the be all and end all in life. I've never personally met or know of any gay doctor, lawyer, scientist, astronaut etc. Does that mean I can never have ambition to become one of these? Can I not find equal inspiration from people I do not share things in common with?

So a young, black, gay boy could not possibly count Marie Curie as inspirational as she was a straight,white woman? Or a young white girl could not see Obama as inspirational?

At the end of the day we have to decide if we want the Academy awards to be awarding actual talent, or to stand in as a "social justice machine".

I think it often takes an outsider viewpoint to be able to view things holistically and without certain biases. I believe the expression is "thinking outside the box".

I think one of the biggest issues with racism in America is lack of integration, and the obsessive dividing of people based on race "white America", "African American America" etc. I think this is largely a hangover from racism of the past, and yes black people can exacerbate this as much as white people can. Perceptions of racism and encouragement not to integrate can be passed down generations just as racist sentiment can and this is problematic. It is "self-segregation" and it is a pretty big contributor to racism.

It is the same with gay people, as a minority the only way we can end homophobia is via integration and education. Putting up walls and living in communes because a. our predeccessors suffered homophobia, b. we "might" suffer homophobia solves nothing. It is not always a pleasant or easy thing to do, but it is a necessary one. I would argue in some ways racial minorities have an easier task at this as they usually have a bigger support network if things do go wrong and they do experience racism.

I love her, but I think if anything that demonstrates a things are not as bad as made out. She has been nominated and won numerous awards despite her very young age and was the youngest actress to ever be nominated for an Oscar (incredible praise indeed).

As Michael Caine pointed out it can often take actors (minority or white) decades or even lifetimes to win awards. Just look at Leo! If was all just about being white and handsome I'm sure he would have bagged one by now! Unless it is all a big conspiracy and the Academy use Leo's lack of award status as an indicator of how they are not racist? (I'm surprised non of these protesting celebrities have used that diatribe!).

No I think that is a fair point. "Diversity" rarely equals "equal". For example my employer has a "diversity" goal of artificially getting 40% of women in the top positions by a nearing date (which will naturally create a bias towards female candidates until this quota is met). And the UK shadow cabinet has a 50% female membership despite there only being 38% female politicians in the party. Such "manufacturing" does not equal "equality", it is an artificial attempt at creating a sense of equality.

I agree, I despair at this hyper-reactionary, bandwagon-encouraging form of pressuring over minor issues. I think it is a shame so many actors have dived on this train (presumably to avoid looking racist) and at the cost of really disrespecting hard-working (and many deserving) actors who are nominated this year by calling the awards "a joke" or "without merit". I think that is horrendous behaviour.

 

I think largely yes, it is a combination of the fact ethnic minorities are, well minorities and naturally going to have a smaller talent pool and are (rightly or wrongly) less likely to get picked for lead roles in a film industry based in a predominately white country.

Do you care to expand on that instead of making a statement obviously intending to rubbish counter opinion whilst providing no basis for this.

You cannot win an argument by going "yeh, well you don't know what you are talking about" and then leave. Not unless you are in school.

 

So why bother even posting when it isn't contributing anything? That is tantamount to trolling.

You might as well go through random threads posting just "You're all wrong."