I’m genuinely not sure what I feel about this and how people are going about expressing their feelings. I’m looking for a steer from you lot.
Did I miss the “Boo! Oscars are racist!” thread or are we collectively avoiding the subject?
by 56 Comments
Love to help, but my New Years resolution was to steer clear of ‘political’ threads. It’s not good for my mental health and blood pressure.
Anyway good luck!
I vote not talking about pointless award ceremonies at all and they might go away……. they won’t will they?
I always tend to assume cockup before conspiracy, but it is a bit crap I have to say.
Surely the more significant “scandal” is the tiny number of parts for black and Hispanic actors that are non-superficial enough to give the actors who play them a crack at winning an award. Don’t the Oscars just reflect the mainstream films that are being made – or not made?
This kind of chimes with what I was thinking, which was that for all the noise about the whitewashing of the nominees I haven’t seen anything that points to a specific performance that has been criminally overlooked.
That was kinda my feeling too.
You must be kidding. Samuel L Jackson should have definitely got a nomination for his role in the Hateful Eight. Not saying he should have won it but at least a nomination.
I haven’t seen Hateful Eight so can’t comment myself, but I was talking more about the general coverage of the issue. Yours is honestly the first suggestion for a specific nomination that I’ve seen
You’ve not seen Samuel L. Jackson suggested as having been robbed elsewhere for the simple reason that the man already HAS a best supporting actor Oscar sat on the mantelpiece at home.
The main body of complaint seems to be focused around Straight Outta Compton; a sure-fire Oscar winner brought to us by the visionary director behind Law Abiding Citizen, the Mark Wahlberg remake of the Italian Job and Vin Diesel’s A Man Apart.
Sorry Bingo, nothing personal here, but Straight Outta Compton is a narcissistic piece of shit. A 5 year old could see that the people portrayed in it were also directing it. I mean, it was retch inducing.
I appreciate that, given the sheer volume of shit films I’ve previously praised on this blog, it probably wasn’t remotely self-evident, but… I was being sarcastic!
Sorry, skimmed your post and didn’t pick up the sarcasm.
Maybe there are just fewer films where the main protagonists main buddy/partner dies tragically, shortly after proclaiming the ongoing unbreakable bond between white cop, the former, and black/hispanic/etc cop, the latter.
Exactly this.
I’ve yet to hear anyone identify a black performance/contribution that has truly been robbed by this year’s nominations. Let the work speak for itself.
The issue is access to production. Open the doors to more ethnic minority talent, give them a broader range of opportunities and roles and you won’t have to fabricate opportunities to “equalise” the awards, it’ll occur naturally.
Also: some perspective required: it’s the fricking Oscars, a daft industry back-scratch, not the bench of the Supreme Court. I suspect Black America will survive Ice Cube Jnr missing out on a statue.
” not the bench of the Supreme Court” – and, as US TV and movies tell us, every single judge in the USA is a black woman. So that’s sorted.
Further to the above:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2016/01/film-and-race
Since 2000, Black actors have won 10% of the Oscar nominations in the actor categories. Black population of the US? 12.6%
In the same period, Hispanic actors have won 3% of said nominations, despite representing 16% of the US population.
“The numbers indicate that, whereas the film industry most certainly fails to represent America’s diversity, the whitewashing occurs not behind the closed doors of the Academy, but in drama schools (shown in the SAG membership) and casting offices. For most of the past 15 years, the Academy has largely judged what has been put in front of them: minority actors land 15% of top roles, 15% of nominations and 17% of wins. Once up for top roles, black actors do well, converting 9% of top roles into 10% of best-actor nominations and 15% of the coveted golden statuettes, a bit above their share of the general population. “
Since 1995, Black talents (and Cuba Gooding Jr) have won 12.5% of all acting Oscars, off a population share of 13%.
I really am not bothered by The Oscars.
Popular films sell at the Box Office so judge them that way not by a bunch of self selected cronies.
Judge a film by how popular it is? Not very Afterwordy is it?
The Oscars are just another snapshot of the USA and it’s no surprise at all.
I remember seeing a TV programme some years back about racism in the USA.
They stood a smartly-dressed distinguished-looking black man and a skinny white guy in a garish clown suit at the road side and tested which one would be most successful in hailing a cab.
The white guy in the clown suit had no trouble but the suited-up black man was completely ignored. Even by the African-American cab drivers.
And yet those funny old racist Americans clowns elected a black president. Twice.
While we thrillingly modern, cussed and egalitarian Brits elected a Tory who went to Eton and Oxford and is the son of a millionaire.
Gosh, we’re fab. So much superior to those yanks.
Oscars? Typical. Racism writ large.
See below for list of black BAFTA award winners.
Oscar Voters – 96% white, 76% white, average age 63.
My lack of knowledge re films outside mainstream (with the odd arthouse movie to make me feel good) not withstanding, its hardly surprising that Straight Outta Compton or Beasts of No Nation are shown the door saying “do one”.
76% male of course (that edit button still MIA)
The Afterword: 96% white, 90% male, average age 64.
Just conducted an album of the year poll which failed to return a single black artist in the top 10.
Shit: I guess we must all be racists too.
It’s the only possible conclusion. At least we’re not Americans.
I kept telling you Kendrick Lamar was album of the year.
I agree with Public Enemy’s take on the OP from as long ago as 1990. Things haven’t moved on much, have they?
http://youtu.be/zuFcf7bXXgo
Given that one of the vocalists on that record has subsequently appeared in a slew of Hollywood movies, I’d suggest they seem to have moved on a fair bit….
The bills have to be paid. Not been nominated for an Oscar, though.
Never fear: he has the latest installment in the “Barbershop” franchise coming out later this year. Gotta be a shoo-in.
I’ll have you know I’m only 93% white.
My grandmother used to say I was 25% Black Irish, double whammy.
Afterword 96% white? That ruins the chances of a half decent blues band then, I suppose.
Some of my best parts are black.
Well last year David Oyelowo was criminally overlooked for Selma. And I guess it’s instructional that if you are a black actor you need to be cast as a real life figure like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Mohamed Ali to be in with a shot to win one of those things. Or playing a horrifically mistreated slave like Lupita Nyong’o
This year was a fairly dismal year for decent black roles. Offhand I can’t think of an obvious “oscar bait” black role, and I’d say that that itself is a bit of a problem. But is that “Oscars” problem or “the movie industry a whole’s” problem?
One thing I’ll say. I recently watched Shame, starring Michael Fassbender and directed by Steve “12 Years A Slave” McQueen. I thought it was jaw droppingly astonishingly brilliant in every way. But in the wake of this scandal, I wonder if Chiwetel Ejiofor had been cast in it instead of Michael Fassbender, would it have been, a , better and b, a prime example of colour blind casting benefitting a black actor who could have had a role other than crook, rapper, criminal, slave or noble black man of history?
I don’t know. I’m just flagging it up as a thought. I do think that black actors have a case to be grumpy but I also think that actors as a whole get a hell of a lot of attention and sympathy etc as it is.
Re: Selma – yes, and I’d say that Ava DuVernay was worth an nomination for Best Director for the same picture.
Should there be a quota? I do not understand why awards ceremonies are such big news. Am still praying that Leonardo finally wins *
* not really
I’m currently writing a screenplay intended for Idris Elba, who plays Idris Elba, a black man who overcomes overwhelming odds in order to become the first black man to win an Oscar in 2016. It’s sure to be a shoo-in for the Oscars in 2017, unless Eddie Redmayne is playing a woman or a handicapped again.
Is Idris Elba playing Idris Elba playing Sidney Poitier?
Tsk. He needs to win at the end!
One serious question that’s been overlooked in all this: no nominations for Sandi Thom? Really?
I note that the Oacars chief is promising to swiftly introduce greater ‘diversity’ among the members. All very well and good, but is she, therefore, insinuating that these new BME members would only vote for BME candidates? Waaycist, shirley?
There’s no doubt any case would be harder to refute if there were an elephant of Hoop Dreams dimensions in the room this year. The argument seems to be more “Again? Really?”.
Bingo makes good points about the industry, but you do wonder if it’s a chicken-and-egg thing. Di Caprio froze his ass of for months and others have sat in wheelchairs because precedent has shown that this stuff is Oscar fodder. I’ve no doubt the actors involved have motivations other than award grabs – what I’m saying is that these are the films that get made, these are the roles that are appealing, because of precedent. So who gets nominated today will have an enormous bearing on what films are made and what roles are going tomorrow. Which is kind of sad when you consider, as Bingo again points out, The Academy Awards do no more than reflect the views of a small club of mostly older white dudes – just like ours..
There’s a lot of bandying around of the term ‘white’ here. I’d be interested to know what percentage of the Oscar voters are Jewish?
It’s hard to put a figure on it because no stats are available (it’s a question that pollsters and statisticians seem, for reasons that are perhaps understandable, to be unwilling to explore), but the widespread belief – including among Hollywood commentators who are themselves Jewish – is that it’s considerably more than half the voters and possibly quite a lot more than that. What is quantifiable is how many of the 25 current holders of the top jobs (chairmen and CEOs) at the 12 major studios are Jewish. The answer is 21. That’s 84%, compared with 2% of the general US population.
And the point being made is what exactly?
The point is that if a minority being under-represented in a certain field is worth noting, then a different minority being strikingly over-represented in that same field can’t reasonably be a taboo topic.
The average Oscar voter is an old Jewish guy. Surely their age, sex and religion are just as relevant to this discussion as the colour of their skin. They are who they are.
*posts funny picture of elephant*
Thank you. 84% Vs 2%. That’s rather high.
Hmmm I don’t know, maybe this should be a Jews Vs blacks debate, rather than a white Vs black issue?
There are only six “major studios”, surely? Disney, Paramount, Universal, Warner Bros, Sony and Fox.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_film_studio
From memory, half of the six currently have Jewish studio heads, if that’s any measure of anything.
And…?
And it sounds like you may have identified a subtext in my comment that simply doesn’t exist?
But what is the point of making the point.
If the point is that Jews have made an overwhelmingly positive and disproportionate contribution to the motion picture I would concur.
I’m not making any broader point at all.
Someone asked how many academy members are Jewish. The conversation moved on to the “majors” and the proportion of Jewish people in senior management. I was surprised at the suggestion there are 12 majors, and thought the studio head position might be as good a measure as any.
I fully agree with your final statement, but I don’t think I should have to attach that disclaimer to what was, for my part at least, a purely factual conversation. We should be able to discuss race without an assumption of some sort of creeping, covert racism.
Anyway, here’s one of my favourite Jewish people:
Exactly what a massive racist would say…
Seriously, Bing I’m not suggesting any agenda on your part. Creeping, covert or otherwise.
I was just interested how earlier contributors, ahead of you, started to comment on Jews in the film industry in a manner, to my mind, which bore no relevance to the question of whether Black film artists are fairly represented.
I was not seeking to be provocative. Just seeking an answer.
Just as a cigar is sometimes a cigar. Sometimes a question is just a question.
Hahaha – very good!
Fair enough, Fin, you make a good point. I’ll join you in that cigar.