Racial Representation In The Oscar Awards

“The success of ‘Black Panther’ has also been heralded as a strong and unequivocal message to Hollywood, where filmmakers and actors say they have long wrestled with preconceived notions that movies with predominantly black and female characters are financial risks and don’t fare well on the global market” (Izadi). Even though typically minority movies do not do well on the global market, the recent release of “Black Panther” has caused lots of people to join in on the idea of minority dominated movies which suggests that this idea is near its tipping point because there is nearly enough people who are beginning to want to see these movies produced because of the difference in the type of characters. “It’s a movie about what it means to be black in both America and Africa—and, more broadly, in the world. Rather than dodge complicated themes about race and identity, the film grapples head-on with the issues affecting modern-day black life” (Smith). The effect of the director choosing to deal with the issue of minorities in movies head on has caused a spike in the attention of movies like “Black Panther.”

On January 29th, 2016, Kevin D. Williamson a columnist of the National Review, wrote an article titled satirically titled On the Difficulties of the Movie Star. Williamson's argument revolves around the fact that although African Americans make up 12 percent of the US population, they are just six thousandths of a percent of the global population, and Hollywood is surely a “fully global enterprise”. He then reasons that it would be years even decades until an African American be nominated for an Academy Award if they were randomly distributed, just as it would be unlikely for ethnic minorities such as “Ukrainians or Comorians” to be nominated. He then stated that this shows African Americans, like white Americans are “overrepresented in Hollywood”.

You don’t sit down and write a story and say, “I’m going to write a story that involves four black people, three Jews, and a dog,”—right? That’s not how stories get written. If you don’t understand that, you don’t understand anything about how stories get written.

For the last two years, the Oscars have come under fire in the last two years with their lack of nominations of people with color. The Oscars otherwise known as the Academy Awards is an award show to highlight and give praise to the best movies and short films of the year, including in this prestigious awards are the actors and actresses that star in these blockbusters and they are, as well as their movies praised on the highest level for their craft. However what has become under scrutiny is the so-called “White Wash” that has come across the ceremony.

This is the second straight year in which not a single person of color was nominated for an acting Oscar. Jada Pinkett took it upon herself to bring people’s attention to the lack of diversity in the Oscars and in Hollywood, in a video posted on her face book page. Diversity can be defined as the inclusion of different types of people, race, or cultures in a group or organization. United States of America is a country full of different diverse group of people, races (Black white), culture, and religion. An organization’s success and competitiveness depends upon its ability to embrace diversity and realize the benefits. For example, if workplace diversity issues are handled well in an organization, benefits are reported. Also, according to a broadcast on NPR, Mcevers says, “Right, I mean, one of the findings of your Hollywood diversity reports at UCLA is that movies with more diverse cast tend to make more

The case is that if you believe that there is no racism in Hollywood, then you have already been influenced by it. The small racial representation can continue to affect our future generations, this means your future children. We as the viewers need to make our voices heard by demonstrating that a film of color can be as successful as a predominantly white film. Therefore, I encourage you to go watch films that portray a person of color in a positive way and consist of actors of color; we need to exceed the box-office, since in the end a large impulse of any business is to have a large income and show the Oscars that actors of color are also very talented and deserve at least a

Only 9 non-white actors have been nominated for an oscar in the last five years. The lack of diversity has been the same throughout its entire 88-year history. The problem happens behind the scenes, just as well as on screen. There are more than 450 members in the Academy’s executive branch. 96% of the voters are white, and 87% are men. The 2016 Oscar nominations revealed all 20 nominees for acting awards were white and films with black themes have been shut out of the best picture category. More than 350 whites have been nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress compared to just 21 blacks. Fewer than that have won an

There has been many controversies about the lack of diversity in Hollywood and one of the most recent one was the 2016 Oscars. The Oscars is an award show that showcase the best people in front and behind the camera. Unfortunately there was barely any diversity in the nominations this year since most nominators were white, even though there was many diverse films that were considered Oscar worthy. With that being said,people protested that there needs to be more diversity in these categories and some actors agreeing by using the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite in social media. To make things worse, the Academy Awards members are majority older white males which brought to the attention from the protesters that in order to have diversity into the awards, the members itself needs to represent of all races so, it can be considered a fair choice. Which make sense to why throughout history of the Oscars there was always a discrepancy of diversity in the nominations since 1929 because only a very small percentage of minorities actors have received an award compared to the white actors that dominated the Oscars with a high percentage of winners. This created tension in Hollywood that the Oscars are marginalizing itself as a all white program and that there needs to be changes.

Awards this year. In Eboo Patel’s article, “Making the Future Better, Together”, he claims that

Diversity in Hollywood has been a controversial conversation in the industry and beyond for over 16 years. Defined as “the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc.” (3) Diversity has always been something the media industry, specifically Hollywood, lacks in. It is important for there to be diversity in films because when people see others on screen that look/identify like them, they feel seen and understood. The conversation around diversity in Hollywood isn’t a new topic yet; every few years the media treats it like one.

“Oscars So White” a phrase that began trending on social media sites after the 2016 Academy Awards announce their nominees for Best Actor and Best Actress, it was predominately white for a second year in a row. The movie industry is no stranger to controversy and since its inception it’s constantly been guilty of underrepresenting ethnic people. It’s evident that film is a type of mass media that has a certifiable amount of power to influence audience’s views, yet this platform constantly disregards the need for diversity in favor of stereotypes. Movies such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Scarface (1983), and Pan (2015) are all guilty of this. The depiction of non-American characters in Hollywood movies are constructed around racial

It is not just about winning, or even being nominated, but representation. Clearly, the Latino, Asian, and Native American community do not have the representation they deserve in the media - the roles for other minorities are not there and there is ZERO reason for their absence. Would the Martian, a movie about a fictional space trip to mars, be any different with a Latino? Would the movie Room, another fictional movie based off a book, be any different with a Native American actress? There is no reason to be casting movies with white actors and actresses if it does not matter to the plot, and that is something Hollywood has yet to

People often assume that if a show or movie contains one racially diverse person, it should be considered “diverse”; this assumption or viewpoint is completely absurd. This is further described as tokenism, the practice of making only a perfunctory or symbolic effort to do a particular thing, especially by recruiting a small number of people from underrepresented groups in order to give the appearance of sexual or racial equality

Some examples that prove the article include the academy awards. The 2015 award show revived major backlash for clearly lacking diversity. #Oscarssowhite trended on twitter, many public figures and members of the film industry spoke out and did not attend and promised to boycott the award show until there was change. The following year tied with the 2007 award show, for being the most diverse. That outrage and the way people across the United States spoke up, made that change and altered an industry that they felt they were discriminated in. An example that refutes aspects of the article would be shows like insecure. Although, I haven’t watched too much of the show, I know from what I’ve seen that the way blackness is portrayed on the show

In a study of 414 films and television series, only 33 percent of all characters were women, and only 28 percent were of racial minority status (Associated Press). Casting diversely in entertainment has been an issue for years and has recently spawned many controversies such as the 2016 Oscar Controversy where an outrage occurred due to a lack of minority Oscar winners. Many cultures and races fell underrepresented and cast aside by film and television. The entertainment industry should cast more diverse actors because it increases viewership, provides a broader perspective, and creates a more realistic setting.