Much has recently been made about the lack of diversity amongst this year’s Oscar nominees. This is not as much a surprise as it is another fervent reminder of the state of race relations in the USA. For all those decrying this as a storm in a teacup, it is emphatically the opposite. On a basic level, television and film represent a daily interaction between the individual and the representations of identity that society imposes upon their culture. The images that we see on the TV screen demonstrate to us how our own identities are perceived by society and how we are expected to act.
Whatever your views on the concept of reverse-racism, and whether or not racism is predicated on the norms of the society in which it occurs, it cannot be seen as racist against white people to call for greater diversity on the screen, especially when the starting point is there being no African-American actors on the list. Charlotte Rampling, star of Dexter and Broadchurch, foolishly claimed that it was “racist to whites” to criticise the nomination list for its lack of diversity. She has since clarified the quote, arguing that she meant that she only wished every film was judged equally on its merits. In a roundabout way, this really gets to the heart of the issue. It is not only that no African-Americans were nominated for the Oscars this year. It is that African-Americans played an integral part in the past year in cinema, but their talent has been ignored. Every film is clearly not being judged equally on its merits. It is telling that somehow the Academy has managed to nominate the only white people involved in a film about gangster rap – the writers for the film Straight Outta Compton. Even more glaring are the omissions of Idris Elba from the Best Supporting Actor role and Michael B. Jordan in the Best Actor category following his spellbinding depiction of a boxer attempting to reconcile his family’s past in Creed. To imply that putting these performances on the nomination list is merely an act of tokenism is simply pigheaded.
It is worth being clear as to how these nominees are actually decided and how a winner is chosen. The members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences – more colloquially known as ‘The Academy’ – choose nominees from their own field. The shortlists of nominees are collated and the whole Academy then votes. This illuminates one key undercurrent in this whole debacle – that the Academy, as an institution, is highly exclusive, unrepresentative and nepotistic. In order to become a member, you either have to have been nominated for an Oscar or be invited in by two separate members. And so, when entry into the elite and exclusive society is based on back-scratching and who you know, it is easy to see why accusations of an absence of diversity have been raised.
Many further accusations have been made of how the only times that an African-American has been nominated for an Oscar is for depictions of slavery, or roles confined to the era of Jim Crowe. Take 12 Years a Slave, a most notable example of this. That being said, this critique is not strictly accurate, or true. In fact, as George Clooney recently pointed out, the Oscars did, in fact, make some progress in the period either side of 2000, with Morgan Freeman’s nominations for his roles in Million Dollar Baby and in The Shawshank Redemption, respectively, as well as Will Smith’s for his tear-inducing performance in The Pursuit of Happyness.
Moreover, since the furore around diversity has erupted, the Academy has pledged to increase the representation of ethnic minorities and women as well as imposing slight restrictions on membership to ensure that all members have been working in their respective field at some point in the last 10 years.
Progress is admittedly slow. These rule changes may effect a small level of change, but the truth still remains that images and portrayals of race and culture have an important impact on the discourse surrounding race in America.
This is the year when Leonardo diCaprio might just receive his Oscar. Hollywood remains as white and WASPish as ever, unrepresentative of its global and multicultural audience. It’s time to open up a conversation about the diversity of actors and filmmakers and start to breach the subject of the wealth of talent in the African-American community hitherto overlooked. This year’s Oscar season should be a wake-up call.
