OP-ED: Lack of diversity in Academy Awards is not the root of the problem

By Claire Alongi,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

Directors, producers, actors, actresses, scriptwriters, movie aficionados and more prepare for Hollywood’s big night: the Academy Awards. But after the Academy released its nominations on Jan. 14, the lead-up to the 88th Oscars has been less about the movies themselves, and more about the lack of diversity.

It’s all well and good for critics to berate the Oscars for its ageism, sexism and racism. It is a problem that needs to be fixed. But everyone should keep this in mind: a lack of diversity in Oscar nominations isn’t just an Oscar problem, but a reflection of a Hollywood problem.

Shortly after the nominations became public, #OscarsSoWhite became a hot topic of discussion as social media platforms blew up while discussing the lack of diversity in the Academy’s nominations. Not a single one of the actresses or actors nominated for a leading or supporting role (that’s 20 people in total) was a person of color–for the second year running.

Several celebrities are supporting a boycott of the awards show, including Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith and Spike Lee. Mark Ruffalo, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in “Spotlight,” has also said he is considering whether or not he should attend the event.

But the Oscars aren’t only plagued by racism. The ages of the nominees tend to skew younger, especially in the cases of Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress.

In addition, all the Best Director Nominations are male. Only one woman has ever won a Best Directing Oscar.

Of course, every year people are snubbed; this year Charlize Theron was left out for her portrayal of Imperator Furiosa in “Mad Max: Fury Road” and nine year-old Jacob Tremblay didn’t get a nomination for his heart wrenching turn as Jack in “Room.”

But there is a trend now, and a battle cry has spread. Will Smith, Michael B. Jordan, “Straight Outta Compton,” all snubbed! Not to mention older actresses like Maggie Smith (age 81) for “The Lady in the Van” and Lily Tomlin (age 76) for “Grandma” were left off the dockets.

For its part, the Academy is trying to change. On Jan. 21 the Board of Governors met to go over potential changes to voting rights and membership within the Academy.

“The Academy is going to lead and not wait for the industry to catch up […] These new measures regarding governance and voting will have an immediate impact and begin the process of significantly changing our membership composition,” Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs said, according to the Oscars’ website.

But look past the issues within the Academy and think. Think of all the movies starring white actors, young white actors, that have come out in the last year. Now try to think of movies starring people of color, or actors and actresses over the age of 60 as a protagonist. One list is a lot shorter than the other.

Perhaps actress Viola Davis, a past Oscar winner herself, said it best when she was interviewed by Entertainment Online: “You can change the Academy, but if there are no black films being produced, what is there to vote for?”

Maybe if the Academy Awards diversifies its voting members and regulates the length of memberships, they will in turn nominate a wider range of movies, actors, actresses, directors and more. Maybe that will convince Hollywood that movies don’t always have to star young, straight, white people.

I’m not saying that everyone should go out and boycott the Academy Awards or single handedly try to take down the Hollywood institution. It’s fine to enjoy all the films as long as you remember; there is a problem with the Oscars.

There is a problem with Hollywood (and it doesn’t even stop there, just look at the racial tension all over America). And neither are going to go away overnight.