Are The Academy Awards Still Racist?
By: Dana Fusek
Tags: Inclusion, Diversity, OscarsSoWhite

And the Oscar goes to… a white guy. For over 80 years white men and women have had the opportunity to walk up on a glorious stage in lavished outfits to accept the most coveted prize in the film industry; the Academy Award. The Oscars grew substantially in popularity after the first televised ceremony which aired on March 19, 1953. Since then, the ceremony has been a cherished tradition for film lovers across the United States.

The Infamous Hashtag

However, on January 15th, 2015, the day that the Academy announced the nominations for the 87th Academy Awards, April Reign sent out a tweet that sent film lovers into a viral frenzy. The tweet read “#OscarsSowhite they asked to touch my hair.”

April Reign watched the Academy Award nominations just as many other film lovers were. As the names of the best actor and actress nominees were announced, Reign immediately noticed that they were all white. By the end of the announcement, of 20 people nominated, none people of color. She promptly took to Twitter to write the tweet that became a viral phenomenon.

Original Tweet from April Reign

The tweet spread worldwide and Reign called for conversation regarding the lack of diversity not only within the Academy Awards, but the film industry in general. She expressed that Hollywood should be held responsible for casting choices and who is hired to work behind the camera.

Penelope Ann Miller, a member of the Writers Branch of the voting Academy said in a January 16th article published by The Hollywood Reporter, “I voted for a number of black performers, and I was sorry they weren’t nominated,” she continued, “But to imply that this is because all of us are racists is extremely offensive. I don’t want to be lumped into a category of being a racist because I’m certainly not and because I support and benefit from the talent of black people in this business. It was just an incredibly competitive year.” (Feinberg 2016)

Additionally, in the same article Millar said that the problem wasn't in the Academy Awards, but rather within the greater scope of the film industry. Miller said, “There were an incredible number of films in 2015 that were primarily about white people. Talk to the studios about changing that, not the Academy. There’s only so much we can do.” She added, “I think when you make race the issue, it can divide people even further, and that’s what I worry about.” (Feinberg 2016)

An Insensitive History of the Academy Awards

The first Academy Awards was held in 1929 with a formal banquet and award ceremony for elite film professionals.

Promotional photograph of actor Hattie McDaniel (1939)

It wasn’t until 1940 that the first African American actress, Hattie McDaniel was awarded an Oscar for her role of Mammy in Gone with The Wind. However, due to Jim Crowe laws, McDaniel was not allowed to attend the film’s premiere. When she attended the 12th Academy Award banquet, she was escorted to a small table in the far corner away from her white castmates. McDaniel’s award was eventually given to Howard University per her request. Unfortunately, the award went missing and its whereabouts are unknown to this day (Woo 2017.)

Unfortunately, systemic racism went unnoticed as year after year white filmmakers and actors continued to be recognized for their achievements.

In a 2017 article, Eugune Woo provides insight into the racial spread from 1980–2017. Since 1980, white men had led the acting categories winning 84% of the time. Black men won the second most times at 10% and Hispanic and Asian males tied the category at 3% each (Woo 2017.)

In the spread of best actress wins, white women won the coveted Oscar 89% of the time while black women won 9% of the time, followed by Hispanic women who won 3% of the time (Woo 2017.)

Remembering that the Academy Awards started in 1929, it took over 20 years for many minority actors to bask in Oscar glory.

The Latin American community did not see an acting win until 1950 when Jose Ferrer won Best Actor for his title role in Cyrano de Bergerac (Woo 2017.)

The Asian community did not garner an acting win until 1956 when Mongolian actor (although there is controversy on his actual ethnicity) Yul Brynner won for The King and I (Riese 2020). Behind the camera, accomplished director Ang Lee became the first director of Asian descent to win an Oscar with his film Brokeback Mountain in 2006 according to IMDB.

Surprisingly, no Indigenous American actors have won the Oscar and only six have been nominated. It wasn’t until 2019 that Gus Studi of the Cherokee Nation was presented an Honorary Oscar for his long acting career (Davis 2020.) Actors of Indian descent have seen very few nominations and have yet to win.

Many celebrities who graced the Oscars stage noticed the lack of diversity. In 2002, Halle Berry became the first black woman to win Best Actress in a leading role for Monster’s Ball. Once Berry reached the stage, she made an emotional acceptance speech and gave a message of hope for the future. Berry said, “This moment is so much bigger than me. This moment is for Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne, Diahann Carroll. It’s for the women that stand beside me, Jada Pinkett, Angela Bassett, Vivica Fox. And it’s for every nameless, faceless woman of color that now has a chance because this door tonight has been opened.”

The Effects of #OscarsSoWhite on Film Artistry

The message of the viral #OscarSoWhite hashtag was not lost on actors, directors, and those who work in the film industry.

I spoke with David Atkins, a professor at Quinnipiac University and filmmaker behind Arizona Dream and Novocaine. Atkins talked openly about how the #OscarsSoWhite made him think differently as a filmmaker. “I always knew about creating beautiful bouquets in casting and I’ve always been a big practitioner of that when I have the opportunity to create a cast.” Even within the last few years Atkins and his colleagues have worked within the college to customize protocols in creating key casting opportunities for underrepresented groups and people of color.

The Last Five Years: A Rebuild

Cheryl Boone Isaacs Photo By MiamiFilmFestival — Flickr.com, CC BY-SA 2.0,

With a clear idea that things needed to change, Hollywood began to adjust. Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the president of The Academy at the time committed to increasing diversity efforts. The Academy also made a poignant commitment to doubling the number of people of color and women within the membership ranks by 2020.

However, Reign’s pleas for diversity fell on deaf ears as again no people of color were nominated in any of the acting categories in 2016.

2017 experienced some progress as the board selected Barry Jenkin’s Moonlight, a coming of age film depicting the life of a gay black man, as Best Picture. Additionally, 35% of the nominees were of minorities. Mahershala Ali won Best Supporting Actor for Moonlight and Viola Davis for Best Supporting Actress for Fences. (Riese 2020)

The trend continued into 2018 as Jordan Peele was nominated for many major categories, such as Best Director, but became the first black man to win Best Original Screenplay for Get Out and Mary J. Blige became the first black woman to be nominated both in the Supporting Actress category and Best Original Song category.

In 2019, Spike Lee celebrated as he won Best Director for BlacKkKlansman. At a press conference that night, he credited April Reign and Cheryl Boone Isaacs by saying he wouldn't have been there that night if it wasn't for the two women and the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag. He said, “they opened up The Academy to make The Academy look more like America, it’s more diverse. So that is why three black women, if I counted correctly, won Oscars. That would not have happened without OscarsSoWhite and Cheryl Boone Issacs.” (The Hollywood Reporter)

This brings us to The Academy Awards ceremony in 2020, five years after the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag went viral.

South Korea saw a big win as Parasite swept most major categories including Best Picture. This prompted celebration within the highly underrepresented Asian community.

However, many were outraged by the fact that accomplished director Greta Gerwig was snubbed for Little Women. Lupita Nyong’o was also left without a nomination for her portrayal of not one, but two characters in Jordan Peele’s Us. Ruth Carter, a costume designer for critically acclaimed films such as Selma and Black Panther said, “The 2020 nominations are shameful. I love Scarlett Johansson [nominated for both “Marriage Story” and “Jojo Rabbit”]. If she had played two very different characters in the same film the way that Lupita Nyong’o did in “Us,” might that have been deemed worthy of a nomination?” (Ugwu 2020.) This made viewers think critically wondering if female filmmakers and minority actresses are still being underrepresented.

The Future of the Oscars

In 2020, Academy members had become more diverse. In June of 2020, the Academy released their new membership invitations. Pete Hammond reported in his article that the invitees were 45% female, with 36% of them representing underrepresented ethnic and racial communities (Hammond 2020.) This is clearly an improvement as a 2013 Los Angeles Times article noted that the Academy was about 93% white at the time (Horn, Smith 2013.)

This past September, the board also announced the news that it would be adding a diversity requirement when selecting nominees (Sperling 2020.) There was no mention of how soon this would start.

Photo By Dana Fusek, Image of Jorge Lopes from 2020 Interview

However, some are not so sure if this is a step in the right direction. When I spoke with actor Jorge Lopes who starred in the 2017 film Convicted, he said that this initiative concerns him. When asked about the academy initiating this plan, Lopes said, “It is affirmative action for the film industry. Is it needed? Sadly, it probably is. Would I want that? No. I want to be judged on the character of my work and who I am. Not because I am black or minority and fit this criteria…now I become a box that you have to check.” Instead, Lopes emphasized the importance of inclusion. He stated that he hopes for more groups to be represented in a film to promote positive connections for all audience members of varying backgrounds.

Conclusion

While it is shown that the Academy is making efforts to amend a racist past, there are a few steps that need to be taken to end systemic racism. This goes for not only within the Academy, but the film industry as well.

First, we must realize that there are factual reports of racism existing in the film industry as much as any other industry in American history. By recognizing the past, we can learn and push forward with inclusion for all races, sexes, and identities.

Secondly, per April Reign’s insight, the film industry must cast a wider net for smaller budget films and distribute them widely. This will help minority filmmakers gain notoriety and be able to build a persona among Studio executives and distributors. This was noted by Jorge Lopes who said it is much harder for minority producers to receive funding for their projects because their work is widely unknown to mainstream audiences.

In my interview with David Atkins, he mentioned that the film industry is an “old fashioned kind of system which is predicated on economics and translated to white male protagonists bringing the most money.” Therefore, marketers in the film industry must realize that film is not just for white audiences. Instead, America wants to see a variety of people in films. This draws in a wider audience who can connect to the characters. Atkins says he is confident that there will be increased diversity in film from seeing cast lists and hopes that the industry will advance within LGBTQ and other marginalized groups.

Photo by Nathan DeFiesta on Unsplash

The film industry is not lost. Diversity and integration have seen great strides. Lopes reflected on the release of Black Panther saying, “It was groundbreaking because now you got a black person playing a superhero, which you know, Stan Lee had the foresight(to see it) way back when.” He went on to say that this allowed the public the opportunity to see talented actors despite a time when “Hollywood looked at it this way… a black face couldn’t sell worldwide.”

Now with the rise of social movements like Black Lives Matter, the film industry is better prepared to tell stories from marginalized groups, because, as Jorge Lopes told me, “art imitates life.”

References

Davis, C. (2020, November 25). 10 Native American and Indigenous Actors the Oscars Should Have Recognized. Retrieved December 12, 2020, from https://variety.com/lists/10-native-american-and-indigenous-actors-the-oscars-should-have-recognized/misty-upham/

Feinberg, S. (2016, January 20). Academy Members Defend Their Oscar Votes: “To Imply We Are Racists Is Extremely Offensive”. Retrieved December 02, 2020, from https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/oscarssowhite-academy-members-defend-oscar-857416

Hammond, P. (2020, June 30). Motion Picture Academy Invites 819 New Members, Surpasses Five Year Diversity Goal, Vows To Advance Inclusion Efforts. Retrieved December 12, 2020, from https://deadline.com/2020/06/motion-picture-academy-819-new-members-diversity-record-1202974231/

Horn, J., & Smith, D. (2013, December 21). Diversity efforts slow to change the face of Oscar voters. Retrieved December 02, 2020, from https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-diversity-oscar-academy-members-20131221-story.html

“Oscar Winner Spike Lee Full Press Room Speech | THR.” Youtube, uploaded by The Hollywood Reporter (2019, February 24). Retrieved December 10, 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m96izfe2p6M

Riese. (2020, February 07). Oscars So Very Incredibly Racist: Investigating 92 Years Of Academy Awards For Acting. Retrieved December 02, 2020, from https://www.autostraddle.com/2016-oscars-so-so-so-white-329290/

Sperling, N. (2020, June 12). The Oscars Will Add a Diversity Requirement for Eligibility. Retrieved December 02, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/movies/oscars-diversity-rule.html

Ugwu, R. (2020, February 06). The Hashtag That Changed the Oscars: An Oral History. Retrieved December 02, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/06/movies/oscarssowhite-history.html

Woo, E. (2017, February 23). The Oscars Is More Racist Than You Think [INTERACTIVE]. Retrieved December 02, 2020, from https://venngage.com/blog/oscar-racism-interactive-infographic/