The Wrap asked readers for suggestions on how to improve the Academy. A reader response is a pretty good example of what the Academy members really think — and honestly, it’s not all that different from what a lot of middle-aged dudes I know think. This is why nothing changes. This is white privilege summed up in one comment. I don’t want to single anyone out, at least not until the final ballots are in, but he has to be shitting me if he thinks that people are nominated because of some level of excellence. Yeah, no.
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Yeah, it stinks. Posterity will recall her as a weak winner.
Oh, JR. I am just home from seeing Brooklyn, and I loved it. My husband liked it, too. I really liked how everything worked to create a certain tone, mood, and atmosphere… every scene was unified. We had an almost full theater. Saoirse should be winning everything. It’s quite unfortunate that she’s not, but like I said on another thread, Brie was on such a charm offensive since Telluride, and it has paid dividends. Brooklyn should definitely be in the mix for costumes, production design, director, etc. When they showed her several times in that yellow dress, it reminded me of Grace Kelly’s bridesmaids’ dresses. I liked the palette that was used and the way Ronan’s appearance was transformed in certain scenes. Every role was perfectly cast. The only things that gave me pause were a) not the slightest hint that the pivotal tragic event was going to occur and b) she actually went further with a love interest in the book than in the movie. I am being vague on purpose so as not to spoil. It was masterful how Crowley placed the foreshadowing clue in the city hall scene…
you must miss out on a lot of shows if you steer clear of so many diverse subject , unlike you its not because i said the subject isn’t palatable to me that it means i won’t watch the movie if only once !
as for beast i just haven’t found a time for it whenever i have time i’m about to eat and i just don’t think i should eat and watch beast but i will get around to it !
How many white people won an award from BET? I’m thinking there should be some diversity there too. Also, there’s not enough white, professional basketball players either. Let’s get a handle on that straight away. I say, everyone gets a participation ribbon, no losers, just winners. Yay.
This is the first year where I could’ve seen all the Best Picture contenders before the ceremony. If I get Mad Max in the next two weeks like I plan to, and Room has a decent run in our local theater or the more expansive one in our area, Revenant will be the only one I’m missing. I just don’t feel like seeing it. I can wait until the video.
I’m not predicting this year in contests because it takes the fun out of it. I think Production Design and Supporting Actress are the hardest. Cinematography is between Lubezski and Seale, I think. Sound may be hard, too. I am going to watch the doc shorts when they appear on on-demand.
JR, guess who is going to see “Brooklyn” on Sunday? Me! Husband said, “would you like to have a date day Sunday and see “Brooklyn” in (closest big city to us)?” Hooray.
What do you think of Big Short’s surprise win? At this point I’m in the “anything but Inarritu/Revenant” camp, to be honest. I was very, very pleased to wake up at 2 in the morning to Big Short’s victory, in contrast to how I felt with Birdman and Inarritu’s wins. I would like Birdman more if not for the Oscar season.
Well said!!
I find the movies that people bring up as “snubbed” the weakest point of the discussion. The Oscars are symptom of the industry (where good roles do rarely go to minorities) and but (and this is what makes it so insidious) this will be used as an excuse to continue in that way. Why give Viola Davis (who has never won) a role if you can give three times winner Meryl Streep the role? etc etc. Same goes for directors and their projects.
They handicap you at the start at the race and then they’ll say it’s all your own fault that you didn’t win. “You weren’t just good enough.”
Denzel deserved to win for Malcolm X (BSA Kim Basinger was disturbed enough to comment from the stage). Training Day was the make-up Oscar, and it’s no coincidence he won for a villainous (not anti-hero) role.
Which, if any, black films did you watch?
Brie Larson is worthy of a nomination and even a win.
I happen to enjoy Ronan myself, and hope she pulls an “upset”.
The fine young ingenue winning Best Actress isn’t that uncommon and has happened since the very beginning when, Gaynor won the award. Since the voting body is heavily male, it’s not unreasonable to think that beauty and youth have factored heavily into the wins of: Gaynor, Matlin, Lawrence, Fontaine, Jones, Hepburn (either actress), Paltrow, and more.
Youth isn’t such a good thing for the guys. The old white guys in charge tend to avoid them even more than they award women their granddaughter’s age.
Oh come on. We haven’t even tested if she can float yet.
They get called racist, because they are racist.
Poor Charlotte being called out on her racism. Are you late for your KKK meeting?
F. Murray Abraham is in an abundance of films.
Rampling’s nonsense was just a story on my local news. lololol And I thought that last season of “Dexter” was going to be her biggest embarrassment.
This boycott crap is really silly. One is not entitled to an oscar nomination. Diversity is a great thing and I am excited about it. However, the problem is not with the academy. The problem is with the production companies, minority moviegoers and wealthy minority celebrities. Specifically, Jada and Spike Lee have production companies and are worth hundreds of millions of dollars. If you want to see work that represents the community, produce more work. Its quite easy to blame others! People may even applaud that sort of practice. It is more difficult to look in the mirror and take action yourself. Where are all the films produced by minority artist? They do not exist because they do not want to put their own money on the line. Get in the game. Put some skin in the game! Otherwise shut up! And BTW black audiences go to the movies to see “Ride Along” and “Medea goes on vacation” not exactly oscar worthy films. Someone should do a poll and see how many blacks went to see Concussion and those who went to see “Ride Along” ……I’ll wait!
I’m not sure what you mean. I think Anniston is a good actor, I think Beyonce is a good singer. That’s why Beyonce has Grammys and Anniston has an Emmy and Golden Globe and should have a couple Oscar nominations but she is too “girl next door” and does comedies. The Academy like Europeans who are dying or suffering in some way: Note to academy – Julianne Moore doesn’t have Alzheimers, her character did. The academy votes for Brits with terminal illnesses often, not setting the bar ad excluding comedy, another discriminated area of the profession. But if the voters are white . . . how smart do you have to be to figure it out? We live in a racist nation. 30? of Americans don’t believe President Obama is an American. You do the math.
The point is leading roles usually go to white actors. We’re going to give best actress to a swede? I don’t know any black swedes and I’m Swedish. If you disagree with the obvious you are a plantationist.
YOU didn’t get nominated RobertRoss, is that the problem? Or were you Edited out of The Revenant? Were you the bear or the bison?
Who says allowing more blacks in would “lower” the standards? He kinda gave himself away, on that one.
Thanks for the reply…. but….
There are museums chock full of masterpieces by artists working under various social and political imperatives. Velazquez is regarded by many as the finest painter of all time and I can only think of a few pieces, not his best, that were free of the political constraints of the type which you claim would stifle filmmakers.
Filmmakers deal with external impulses and demands constantly… and routinely. If they want to make important films, demands for inclusiveness in their projects is among the most positive demands with which they are confronted.
White actors and filmmakers are privileged at every step of the process. We are asking that they overcome that pernicious privilege and make better films.
I love Clark Gregg, and I honestly don’t mind him being a member. I’m all for unsung, not-so flashy people being in the Academy. Gregg did write the screenplay for What Lies Beneath.
Oh, c’mon. That’s ridiculous overstatement.
Sorry, JR, to co-opt, but I saw that you posted and wanted to tell you that we finally have Room and Brooklyn in our area. Room will be easy to see unless we get the snowstorm, which is supposed to miss us. Brooklyn only has one timeslot, 1:50. I’ll let you know if I see it, but it’s looking dicey because Sunday’s the only day I can see it, and my husband’s NFL favorite team is playing. (Mad Max is playing in re-release here, too.)
Oh, and I definitely agree with the larger point that the Academy should watch a greater selection of films. I’d be willing to bet that even being from a rural area where we don’t get all the films in play, I have watched more than at least half of the Academy. Have they see Chau, World of Tomorrow, Last Days of Freedom and some of the other more obscure noms? Somehow, I doubt it.
How the fuck can it ‘lose its bite’? Is there a limit on the number of people who can be considered racist in one day? So once we reach a certain number of people being racist, everybody else who wants to spout prejudiced nonsense ought to be overlooked? I’m not throwing that word around. I mean it every single time. There has been a ridiculous amount of racists on these pages since the Oscar nominations last week. Such a shame that the fight against inequality always has to be met with people attempting to perpetuate it further.
If Smith was let in because he was “the appeasment” vote, then that would destroy ANY credibility for black actors and their achievements everywhere, any of their accomplishments rendered pointless…because they were nominated or they won…because they were black. Denzel won because his performance in training day is STILL iconic as hell and it was still the best performance that year.
Yes but in this case, as in these upcoming Oscars, what exactly was the point of outrage? Where are people thinking a minority was shafted? Who did people think really deserved to be up there instead of what we got? People want to fight for minorities in Hollywood, start fighting for better roles, start asking for mainstream cinema to have lead minority actors and casts to start having less whitewashed actors, this fight is not only pointless…it’s toothless, because the truth is, no one really deserved it to the point where this “movement” was justified. Did Will Smith getting “snubbed” really make people go…HEY! This system is FIXED!!!
Oh and the problem of the academy being a bunch of old white dudes has always been there, but again I ask, what is the point? Black or Latino people aren’t just going to vote for Black or Latino people, they’d vote for whatever they felt was best, the problem with having old crusty white dudes is that it tends to edge out genre cinema and films that are deserving but don’t fit a certain mould of oscar bait cinema, but when it comes to race? Come on now.
It’s simple, there’s a ceiling which minorities and women have been trying to break for decades but haven’t got very far.
All minorities and women are asking for is to get equal opportunity. Is that really hard to understand? The industry, which the Academy is part of, have fixed the system so that only white men make the decision and they will reward themselves.
Yes, it’s Smith and Concussion too. It’s everything black that should have been nominated just because black. That’s why it’s so ridiculous.
How about fifty years? That’s what people who are against change say.
I’m not trying to bait anyone, but i genuinely want an answer from someone who’s smarter than me on this matter, what is the aim here? To make sure more ethnic minorities are nominated? Because of what colour their skin is rather than how good they were? I won’t deny the possibility that there is racism among academy voters, but whats the outrage here? Compton? Creed? Idris?…it’s certainly not Will Smith or Concussion? If Steve McQueen was snubbed for a director nomination a couple of years back then I could understand the outrage, because his film and him were pretty much the front runner the entire season, but really what are people outraged at here?
It’s just pretentious racist misogynists.
All true, and while she may be the front runner, I was thinking as to when the last time an actress as little known as Brie Larson won the Leading Actress Oscar. 2007’s Marion Cotillard comes to mind and she was playing an iconic performer. Before that, Hilary Swank in 1999; who mainly had TV credits. Brie Larson may be’ young and pretty’, qualities AMPAS seems to value, but ‘Short Term 12’ and some less than supporting roles are her main claim to fame before ‘Room’. SAG may reward her, as she came to prominence on TV’s United States of Tara, but until that happens, i’m still not 100% predicting it.
@disqus_0sEyirN8Ub:disqus I agree with half of what you wrote completely. I can’t, and wouldn’t want to argue there there is no reason why there can’t be more composer/tech directors, etc. of any color, however I have a hard time telling anyone what kind of art they should make/visualize. Any type of art is a personal medium (usually a storyteller telling a story, painting/sculpture included), and I, for one, am completely against telling a comedian what kind of jokes they should tell, telling a musician what kind of songs/lyrics they should sing, and what type of movies a director should create or a writer should write. I have every right not to consume it if I do not agree with it, but I’m not going to tell someone they have to write this type of character or that type of character just because I (or the public thinks they should). If someone visualizes something (play, movie, book) as white, because maybe that’s how they grew up, or that’s what they know, that in no way makes them a racist (I mean they might be racist, but those factors alone don’t make them racist).
I need to learn how to make my points more succinct
Larson is a smart and thirsty campaigner, she always says exactly what people wanna hear. She’s a pro, no one will take her Oscar away.
You throw the word “racist” around a lot on here. It’s really losing it’s bite with how often you use it.
You will those work is US production where they are mainly recognised by US award shows.
Of course you’re not a terrible person. 🙂 But Charlotte Rampling had/has/will have no shot at the win. There’s 4 actresses with a better chance. It is a wonderful performance, but if they didn’t present Emmanuelle Riva with the Oscar, the young lovelys will battle it out.
The point is that they were snubbed because people didn’t like their performances as much as others. Their colour never came into it, and that’s the way it should be.
I must be a terrible person, because when today’s Charlotte Rampling story broke I thought, “somewhere, Brie Larson is thinking whewwwww that’s one threat eliminated”
I agree with a lot of what Janet Hubert said. Maybe Will and Jada should use their considerable millions to produce some films by black artists and starring black actors.
I hope people feel the same way about Racism between Jamaicans and Nigerians or the Chinese and Japanese or Sikhs and Muslims. They all exist but aren’t discussed because white people aren’t involved.
There’s a movement to force the Academy to introduce black quotas. It’s a legit political battle but it has nothing to do with cinema. Rampling doesn’t agree with this stance and I think she’s right. That’s all. It’s about the true meaning of art awards: should they recognize high achievement in art or should they right the wrongs in the world?
I don’t know if Stallone will win, but why would Coogler even show up?
You seem as zealot as those bullies.
I agree, this is not a witch-hunt… yet (let’s wait and see where this will end, maybe someone is in need of a proper scapegoat this year? Rampling just might fit the bill)
fs it’s a joke
never called anyone out of their names……
So your goal in life is to sound stupid? Bravo, you succeeded.
“I’m a real freedom fighter, I’m not a pretend freedom fighter. I stand up for other actresses, other people. The Smiths just irked me because they are such pretenders, and everything is a photo op. It’s just self-contrived because her hubby didn’t get a nomination.”
That’s what Janet Hubert said about Will Smith and Jada Pinkett, and that’s the same that could be said about many of you now committed to this witch hunt against Charlotte Rampling.
Hubert goes on:
“We’re all complaining about diversity in Hollywood, but we’ve got to address the colorism within the black community of Hollywood first. I’m called ‘dark-skinned Aunt Viv.’ Reid is called ‘light-skinned Aunt Viv.’ The whole ridiculousness of black Hollywood — there is no black Hollywood. It’s every man for himself. We’ve got to address that first before we can start attacking someone else’s awards that were never designed for us.”
and on:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-janet-hubert-oscars-boycott-20160119-story.html
I’m intolerant toward intolerance. It’s the only way to stamp it out, imo. My venom is reserved solely for those who wish to spew it upon others. So I’m very pleased to be spewing venom all over someone with nothing but contempt for the equality movement.
No. Your condescension is, as always, much appreciated but entirely ignored in the long run. Maybe, if you want me to keep my opinions to myself, you could set the standard. Otherwise, it’ll be a flat no.
Enlightening? Point out where I mentioned that my comment was enlightening. Cos it’s not there, pet! You’re the one who thought that term up when making the decision to reply to my comment. It came into your head, henny! Just pointing that out 🙂
Good to know I’m stupid because I have an opinion. I thought just as much myself, because such a stupid notion could only occur to an already-stupid person!
I think Charlotte Rampling’s a great actor! I’ve seen her in lots of things and I thoroughly respect her contribution to cinema. Indeed, I admire very much about her, not only as an artist but as a person. But I don’t think there’s anything positive about sharing the planet with racists, and the sooner their racism fizzles out the better. I’m not forgetting about the many great works created by Academy members when I accuse a whole bunch of them of being prejudiced – being racist and being a wonderful talent are not mutually exclusive attributes.
I don’t agree with what I perceive to be racism in what Charlotte Rampling has said. That’s why I call her a racist, not simply because I disagree with her. I don’t call my mum a racist when she tells me I suit short hair. You’re misinterpreting me.
dont be silly you know what the hell i meant. the ones in contention. creed beasts compton tangerine concussion. you as a member you should of least bothered to see those that were nominated or won some of precursors but based on her quote she seems clueless or as if she didnt care to bother.
Point is you are allowed in that club but you have fun only when you take centre stage.
I agree mads.
babes none of this was serious, you should have seen the humor in all of it. it’s laced in everything i ever post here.
When Vanessa Redgrave won for “Julia”. That was the most politically charged Oscar ever! And she THANKED the Academy for NOT judging her on her politics, but on her performance. That took guts.
I would be curious about her opinion on all this “controversy”.
Here’s something to think about on Oscar night with all of the controversy. The thing people should be bracing for isn’t what Chris Rock might say, but Sylvester Stallone. If Stallone waltzes to the Oscar like I think he will, he will only have done so because of Ryan Coogler. Once Stallone publicly calls out the Academy for ignoring Coogler in his acceptance speech (and you better believe the ABC folks will have a camera trained on Coogler in
case Stallone does that), then maybe the point will be driven home for some people.
Here’s hoping and here’s hoping.
“perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list” she basically made it known she didnt even bother watching certain movies, especially those with a black cast, so yeah whats the point of her being a member now? can we just revoke her membership then? dont call yourself a “member” if you’re not gonna take time to watch all movies. now please quote that.
See, that’s a better reply. At least that shows you’ve got humor.
you’re the bigot, Paddy. You’re the one spewing venom.
That’s your definition of ‘racist’, mate. Keep it to yourself.
So calling Rampling a ‘racist fuck’ is enlightening? God, you sound way more stupid than her…
It was also a warning. “Heads up everyone, we’re about to give Eddie Redmayne an acting award. Be prepared.”
Not surprising since he did help produce Dinesh D’Souza’s anti Obama documentary “Obama’s 2016.”
I would like to have a dollar for each boycotter tuning in on Feb 28
One more: nominations… Will Smith: SAG 1 x 2 Oscars.
Rhetoric sparks change. The backlash being heavy in the media and us nobodies talking about it keeps the story alive. Many of us will not be watching the show at all. Hollywood only really cares about 2 things – money and vanity.
I didn’t say that. I said that people who agree with the boycott should boycott. Otherwise it is you who is talking talking but not doing anything
Within the US… The US production companies? David Oyelowo, Idris Elba, Chiwitel Ejiofor… All brits… Should all compete only at the BAFTAs?
What are his best performances you talking about?
I’m with Paddy. Rampling is such a letdown.
Racism is fiction. Okay, that’s why all these Americans are out protesting. I’m not really surprised but just that anyone would even say such a thing is mind blowing.
The true colors are showing. I’ve lost respect for a lot of critics/people in Hollywood. Rampling’s comments are way off base. It’s as bad as when Scott defended whitewashing Exodus. The tea party set is defending OscarsSoWhite, so that is how far they have fallen. At this point they might as well let Trump or Cruz host the ceremony.
. I don’t think SAG was around to award Denzel Washington for his best performance. SAG is only 21 years old. The Academy gave him lead Oscar because they have snubbed for his best performances.
These foreign are rewarded by their own country’s film awards and by the Academy Best Foreign Language film. They should first fix the problem of lack of opportunity and diversity within the US. SAG is more TV biased than racial or nationality because their members are mostly TV actors.
But at least the Globes did nominate Elba, who was nominated for various other prizes. And Michael B. Jordan won Best Actor at the National Society. And Compton was nominated not just for SAG but also PGA and WGA (3/4 top 4 guilds usually = Best Picture nomination). Its ONLY the Academy that completely excludes people of color whenever they can (they COULDN’T with 12 Years a Slave, just too acclaimed). And don’t forget the gay film, Brokeback, that won everything there was to win until the Oscars. The Academy broke every precedent in the book to deny them on that one. And when you have Academy members like Ernest Borgnine and Tony Curtis openly admitting homophobia on that one, and the Schindler producer and Rampling openly being racist on this one, and you have 0/40 in two years, well, something’s very wrong. Yes, the industry needs to change too, but the old guard Academy is the worst of the lot.
Anyway at this point I think that a lot of you should act accordingly and stop following the Oscar this year. I mean, maybe it is time to make actions follow words.
SAG is really more diverse.
Since both awards exist, Danzel Washington: SAG 0 x 1 Oscars.
Now, everytime this SAG is more diverse comes, I’ll just copy… since both awards exist, Danzel Washington: SAG 0 x 1 Oscars.
“This doesn’t fly with me. SAG, BAFTA and the Independent Spirit awards, etc.. all nominate more diverse groups of actors year after year. They are working within the same industry and are being marketed the same groups of films…”
Exactly. If none of the other 50 or so precursor groups had Compton, Beasts/Elba, Creed, etc. in the discussion, then nobody would be calling the Academy racist, because the consensus thinking would have said that none of those were indeed worthy this year. But those films, and more, were very much in the discussion. Compton, a film I disliked, absolutely had the prerequisites to get a Best Picture nod, on account of PGA, SAG, WGA, etc. Elba absolutely had the credentials for a supporting actor nod. OK, sure, others are similarly snubbed, but when you go 0 for 40, you’ve gotta wonder. And the responses from old guard Academy members like the bigoted Schindler’s List producer or callous Rampling prove this: they think they are above the fray, they just don’t care.
And its not just racism, its other forms of bigotry, like homophobia, like the infamous Brokeback snub (“I won’t watch it…John Wayne would roll over in his grave” – Ernest Borgnine and Tony Curtis and ‘all their friends’ said the same thing). When you win DGA, PGA, WGA, most nominations, 20something film critics awards (including NY, LA & Critics Choice), BAFTA, Golden Globe, top box office, etc., and then you don’t win, well, you’re only one film in history with all those major guild and critical precursors to lose.
When EVERYBODY else allows you into the club except for the people openly admitting they won’t even look at you, then something is very, very wrong. Refusal to admit there’s a problem condones and exacerbates.
wow.
I didn’t say to me. I just asked if you care to explain why you are calling that interview ugly
And now comes this myth that SAG is more diverse than the Oscars because Viola Davis won there and Straight Outta Compton and Beasts of No Nation (this last one a pathetic one by the way… A great film but an ensemble nom is outrageous in a year you have Room, Carol, Brooklyn…) were nominees…
Come one, people! You are smarter than that. Both awards have major diversity problems.
4 foreign LANGUAGE performances that should have won the Oscars and were snubed by SAG: Fernanda Montenegro, Emanuelle Riva and Javier Bardem (2 times).
Only 1 FOREIGN LANGUAGE CAST nominated in its history.
SAG is the place that nominated Jennifer Aniston instead of Marion Cotillard. Who nominated Sarah Silverman this year and Naomi Watts for St. Vincent the last one. Who snubbed Gary Oldman to nominate Leo. Who nominated Richard Gere for Chicago instead of Michael Caine.
WHO NEVER… NEVER gave a fucking award to Danzel Washington.
Will Smith noms: SAG 1 x 2 Oscars.
SAG gives a nomination for Helen Mirren for absolutely anything just based on her name. Of course she is a brilliant actress. But, come on, couldn’t think of anything better than what she did in Hithocock, Trumbo and Women In Gold?
SAG snubed Djimon Hounsou and Terrence Howard, despite nominating their casts.
Beasts of Southern Wild was considered ineligible there.
In the end… As SAG is so diverse… Did it nominate Empire for anything this year?
do you care explaining why this is ugly?
I find more bigotry in here and I find that young people are becoming more bigot by the year. Caine and Rampling have contributed greatly to open minds and make people think with their work for decades. The thing that everyone is forgetting while insulting the Academy is that most of these people you are dismissing as ignorant racists are responsible for creating a lot of the great movies you are all so passionate about. It’s like they are morons but you spend hours following and commenting their works
Yeah, and Hattie sat in a segregated section of the theater. Gone with the Wind was, and I think still is, the biggest box office success of all time when you adjust for inflation. She was swept along with the wave of awards for that film, and happened to deserve it, big time. Considering it took them over 50 more years to honor another black woman kind of keeps me from throwing roses.
At least we know who’s voting BRIDGE OF SPIES #1.
lol.
Spoken like a true Liberal. You don’t agree with someone, so you call them Racist, and decide you don’t like them any more. Grow Up!
Yeah, this seems indefensible.
Clearly it’s a group that is so high on themselves that they can’t admit to their own biases. Saying that people who complain or highlight are racist is a particularly scummy move.
They’ve released voluntary statements, increasing awareness and helping to inform people. Michael Caine’s not helping to inform anyone, unless people want an education in how not to help combat prejudice.
I’m not wishing death on anyone. Just saying I’m glad I’m likely to be around for longer than a generation where bigotry was considered acceptable.
You admit the Academy is exclusive and it excludes some talents whether including some whites. You still can’t get away from the fact it is exclusively white straight white male. Don’t give us the bull that the Oscars are exclusive about talent, the evidence shows otherwise. Its exclusivity is its make up.
You are accusing Caine based on nothing. And your definition applies to 100% of the movie industry including Spike Lee, Lupita, Will Smith and Clooney. I don’t see them actively doing something to address the truth of the problem (that racism exists, whether blatant or latent, throughout the industry, including the Academy in its blindness to films about minorities).
Finally, someone makes sense. It would be a horrible stance for the Academy to use its vote to further politicize this country. It would be contradictive to its own intention. Its so unfortunate that not enough good movies were made featuring minority casts.. Straight Outta Compton was good but BP? No. I haven’t seen Beasts so I cannot comment. This is an organization that in 1939 awarded a wonderful supporting performance in an effort to show people how welcoming they are to minority actors and actresses. Some years we have great diverse representations, some times we don’t, I would never think that a collective body of people were conspiring to prevent Idris Elba from a nomination. That’s a bit silly.
What did I accuse the Academy of doing?
Wishing death on someone because of something they said? Sheesh. That doesn’t sound like any fight for equality to me..
My point of view is simply different: I don’t think anyone or any group has the final word about what is good or who is the best. I don’t think that Kubrick’s or anyone else’s talent is augmented or diminished by an Oscar. People who win have the chance to shine and be part of a legacy but the history of cinema is not confined inside the Academy and not receiving an Oscar is not a sign you are less talented than a winner.
That to me sounds like you are doing exactly what the you accuse the Academy of doing.
Cos if you can’t see, or don’t care to see, the truth of the problem (that racism exists, whether blatant or latent, throughout the industry, including the Academy in its blindness to films about minorities), then you’re racist. Swatting the issue away is ignorant, and ignorance toward racial issues when you’ve got the means to educate yourself on them shows contempt for them. And contempt toward such sensitive, important matters is naturally racist.
You really think the Academy is about talent and rewarding talent? Orson Wells says hi! And so do Hitchcock, Kubrick and Scorsese. I know Scorsese won but for one of his worst films rather than masterpieces like “Taxi Driver”, “Raging Bull” and “Goodfellas”. There are, of course, some talented people in the Academy but they don’t choose purely on talent. Paddy is not voting purely for the best performance either and he doesn’t want to recognise people who dismiss this serious issue and claim racing this issue is racism against whites when 94 percent of the Academy are whites who haven’t nominated a single non-white person for acting, there’s lots of bias. It’s more about who you know and what your comfortable with.
It’s about popularity, not talent.
“Guess what? Black people COINED the term “people of colour”. You cannot rally for “people of colour” if you do not put black people first and foremost. No need to silence black voices because they weren’t specific enough in their discussion. It’s still important and valid.”
Really?…
I gladly wear the badge of being bad at predicting Oscars when they continuously reduce themselves to nothing more than waste management employees.
“Cate Blanchett was brilliant in Carol, a wonderful film that shines a very accurate, flattering, perceptive light on lesbian relationships in an era when they were even more taboo than they are today”
I agree completely. And even if one more person in the world will see Carol because the Academy nominated Blanchett the Academy (painted like it’s the KKK) will have honoured its mission: shine a light on talent and on excellent achievements in the art of film.
“Michael Caine is dismissing the argument. He could have said something positive and constructive. He decided not to do that.”
How does that make him racist?
“I don’t give a fuck about talent. The Oscars aren’t about talent – never have been and never will be”.
There we disagree and will never agree. It’s about talent but not in a universal ecumenic sense. It’s about awarding talent and achievements inside a very specific range of films produced and released within the north American almost entirely anglo speaking network of distribution.
Michael Caine is dismissing the argument. He could have said something positive and constructive. He decided not to do that.
But why is my job as an Academy member to reward what I regard the best in film that year? After all, my favourite film of 2015 was The Assassin, and it wasn’t even eligible. My job as an Academy member is to vote as I please, on the criteria that I determine. No-one can force any Academy member to vote against their will, and no-one can ensure that all have voted based on what they believe to be the best. If it was truly about merit, members would have to prove they had seen all the nominated films before voting, for example.
I don’t want to see racists honoured for shit, I don’t care if they deserve it. Thing is, Cate Blanchett was brilliant in Carol, a wonderful film that shines a very accurate, flattering, perceptive light on lesbian relationships in an era when they were even more taboo than they are today. It’d be a great moment for equality to see that film win big at the Oscars. If Charlotte Rampling won, it’d be a great moment for out-of-touch bigots. I don’t give a fuck about talent. The Oscars aren’t about talent – never have been and never will be.
so your vote would have not been toward the best performance by an actress but toward the person you agree more with. Well, you would have not done a good job as an academy member. Also, please don’t call Michael Caine a racist just because he said something that is the opposite from a racist statement.
He said a vote cannot be based on the color of the skin. HOW is that racist?????
So calling out discrimination is now classed as ‘whining’? If me and all my gay friends weren’t allowed into a club while a whole bunch of hetero people were, and we decided we weren’t gonna just lie back and take it like the submissive little poofs we’re supposed to be, does that mean we’re ‘whining’?
Michael Caine and Charlotte Rampling are a lot closer to death than I am, if nature has its way, and I’m pretty fucking pleased about that. The old guard will die out, and the world will be full of fab people like me. Now that’s priceless 🙂
My vote would’ve gone straight to Charlotte Rampling, no questions asked. But she can fuck off now. Give it to Cate.
Ditto Michael Caine, though my vote wasn’t going anywhere near him in the first place.
Racist fucks giving my country a shitty name.
‘does it implies that ALL Academy members thinks the same and are in agreement with Robert L whose comment is featured here?’
Only if you’re an idiot.
But the casting was racist and the voting was racist. One only needs to be a member of a minority group and have a mere modicum of sense, empathy, intelligence and/or insight to notice that discrimination exists in all forms, all the time, everywhere around us. And if it’s not outright prejudice and hate, it’s insidious prejudice informing ignorant outlooks and/or benevolent racism or sexism or homophobia or transphobia or ageism or ableism or classism etc. You think it’s just by chance that the Academy has hit 40/40 white performers these last two years? When they could have chosen David Oyelowo, Riz Ahmed, Carmen Ejogo, Abraham Attah, Michael B. Jordan, Kitana Kiki Rodriguez, Benicio del Toro, Idris Elba, Oscar Isaac and Mya Taylor? Plz.
Stop this ‘racist’ nonsense. Jeez, all this lazy, simplistic labeling… calling people ‘racist’ (whether it be Rampling or the Academy in toto) is stupid, because it contributes nothing but only making the world (and every discussion taking place in it) stupider.
Btw, where’s your sense of humor, goddammit?
Besides, who cares if you find The Martian good or bad, the case is that you’re bad at predicting the Oscars.
thanks Cameron!
I kind of agree, it is a matter of opinion, and 2015 excelled in movies, directing, performances, heck even film scores, except….. Straight Outta Compton and Beasts of No Nation outclass some of the films nominated; I’m a fan of Creed too but I get why it wouldn’t have a slot on a BP list (way crowded this year). I guess there might be a subconscious push in white older Academy members to vote for white actors and filmmakers but at the same time I believe this year there was just too many of everything; snubs galore. We needed more nominees in every category (we were spoiled).
I don’t count the ensemble votes for comparisons sake. And I said one nominated black actor. In TWO years. In a supporting role. If this is enough to be happy about the state of the industry I don’t know a thing
In American literary criticism, “not good enough” was always the reason given to justify keeping black, Native American, and women writers off the literature curriculum. But what the phrase really meant was, “they don’t write about topics that white men find important” and/or “they don’t write according to the aesthetic standards of European modernism”. The phrase has always been code for disguising the political aspects of aesthetic judgments.
“old simple minded white folk academy voters into shame and embarrassment for their myopic views”
Yet everybody seems to care very much about what they think and vote for. Why don’t you all go and point your interest toward someone who is not just an old simple minded white folk?
This doesn’t fly with me. SAG, BAFTA and the Independent Spirit awards, etc.. all nominate more diverse groups of actors year after year. They are working within the same industry and are being marketed the same groups of films… There’s clearly a disconnect with the Acting branch of the Academy and these other nominating groups if they consistently find performances by people of color that the Academy chooses not to nominate. This might be the nominating process (some other groups use smaller nominating committees, as the Academy does for some awards), and it might be the demographic makeup of the Academy itself, but you can’t say these performances don’t exist due to industry biases if other groups are consistently nominating them!
You know what though at the end of the day this is not a real contest of artistic achievement, its more like a hazing ritual one must slog through to get into a fraternity, the movie doesn’t matter, it’s the career and the politics behind it. The Oscars have long ago voted themselves into obscurity, they’re just not interested in keeping up with the times and to that I say let it be. I’m watching because Chris Rock is going to torch these old simple minded white folk academy voters into shame and embarrassment for their myopic views. This is going to be one of those moments
Thank you!
Oh please, the Oscars are always political, even if it’s just a matter of rewarding someone who’s a good sport within the confines of the industry.
And how does “lol nah” help your case exactly?
Yes, Room and Brooklyn were very popular during the critics awards, with both being nominated for Best Picture in multiple places. SOC was not.
Yes, Room won the People’s Choice award at Toronto, which has led to a Best Picture nomination multiple times in the past (The Imitation Game, 12 Years a Slave, Silver Linings Playbook, The King’s Speech, Precious, Slumdog Millionaire, etc.).
You can also take a look at it this way: the DGA nominations are quite possibly the most important nominations of all and SOC didn’t get one. Once those nominations were announced, that was pretty much five BP slots taken, and with Room getting the People’s Choice award (and not being one of the DGA nominees), it was going to take the sixth. That left two slots for several films. As I’ve said multiple times already, SOC probably wouldn’t have gotten a WGA nomination if not for that guild’s silly rules, and its Best Cast nomination was a rather empty gesture with no individual nominations (this isn’t Return of the King where individual nominations didn’t matter), so it was pretty much left with a PGA nomination, just like Brooklyn and Bridge of Spies, two films the Academy obviously liked more. All that’s to say that, yes, it was on equal footing with several others that didn’t make it.
more awful than people who actually think The Martian and Room are good films are those among you that think their Oscar nominations justify them and make them better films than Carol.
go away, tackies!!!
Some of us have been complaining that all minorities were snubbed.
THERE ARE ICONIC BRITISH ACTRESSES DEVOLVING INTO ICONIC BRITISH RACISTS AND YOU TAKE THE TIME TO THROW IN MY FACE THE HEAP OF STEAMING GARBAGE TOXIC WASTE THAT IS SEVEN NOMINATIONS FOR A BORING, SAFE, NOT-ACTUALLY-A-COMEDY FEEL GOOD EMBARRASSMENT OF A FILM?
No they are not.
And by the way comparing the Academy Awards to presidential election in America takes the cake as the silliest thing I’ve heard in the last couple of minutes.
Yeah guess when the last time I saw her was? Back when I used to tune in to “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” to watch Will Smith. Even on that she did no “acting” she might as well have been a coat rack. Way to get your name out there when everyone forgot you exist, lady.
“One can never really know, but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list”
You can really know by watching the movies. It gets worse if you read what she’s quoted as saying. So she’s part of the problem.
What Michael Caine is saying is different but word to the wise, white people. Unless you really know how to convey things perfectly just nod and smile right now. You’re going to go down as a racist for all time if you get it wrong.
and all those speculations about which message to send out are related to the best performance how exactly? This is the F point: people seems to be asking the Academy to be polite, politically correct, based on merit, but also on diversity, all at the same time and through a vote by 6000 members…
HA! Good one…
JH: that’s the problem, you know, when you start viewing an Oscar win as a political statement for or against something or someone.
Ok, fair enough. I agree with you some of the way, as I was saying… I just don’t see how it’s going backwards to address the problem and confront it. But I agree with you, it would be absurd (in my book) to talk of any form of racism in the Academy, which, as many keep forgetting, consists of 6,000 individuals who have NO idea what other people vote for and who are therefore incapable of forming an agenda.
Like black people say black people things. Same logic.
I am offended that 100% of your profile pic represents a white guy! You’re wacist!
old white people say old white people things
edit: RICH old white people isolated from the real world, I should say.
What you are saying is different than accusing the Academy of being too white, you are referring to a wider range… it was not the case this year and not last year. Actually, the Academy is doing a pretty good job in making people aware of the lack of diversity. I don’t buy that the Academy is racist one year and ok another because it happens to include some minorities in the acting categories. To me the Academy is like a blood test: you see the results and then you act accordingly if something is wrong. What I see here and in this Boycott nonsense is people getting angry at the blood test and not at the disease the test points out.
I was about to vote for Blanchett in the AD simulation, because she’s the whitest of the bunch, but now I feel the need to support Charlotte!
Rampling was being interviewed on a French radio station but French media can be quite PC too overall.
Nah i meant failing to toe the line and saying that reverse racism is real are two different things. I did not type right.
I also meant that failing to toe the line would be making some small mistakes and not saying what she did which is a pretty major thing.
Well, if the dire situation within the industry gets remedied, you won’t need a quota, because people will automatically vote for more black people because there will be a wider range of ‘black’ material to choose from.
if you have diversity within the academy but in the eligible list you have only 4-10 films telling stories which include a diverse cast or are directed by women or are about a particular minority the chance those 4-10 films will be excellent is random, and the chance one or two can pull a 12 years a slave win remains small! What people are asking without knowing it, in my opinion, is having a quote for minorities at the Oscars and that is like asking the Academy to kill itself.
I said ‘fail to toe the line’, not ‘toe the line’. Obviously saying that reverse racism is real is an ‘uncomfortable truth’ and not a very PC-like statement, so that’s NOT toeing the line… Did I misread your argument or did you misread my post? Sorry, if I fail to see your point…
1. How does Oscar boycott push back the Academy ?
2. Exclusive in what ? Tastes ? Race? Oscars are held as the highest standard in films whatever reasons that might be and whatever might have contributed to it. It is not fair at all to have an award that heralds you as one of the finest when it excludes a portion of the people who should also be represented.
3. “The very wrong notion that this Academy should reflect a sort of ideal Hollywood, an ideal America, where minorities are all living with equal opportunities is just smoke in the eyes to reassure and sedate” Very much agree that it is not the ideal situation in America where minorities live with equal opportunity but should that not change ? Should there not be calls for equal opportunity ?
“The very wrong notion that this Academy should reflect a sort of ideal Hollywood, an ideal America, where minorities are all living with equal opportunities is just smoke in the eyes to reassure and sedate.”
I kind of agree with you, some of the way…
But then this:
“What oscar so white and boycott the oscar is doing is push backwards the Academy not forward and it will not change a bit Hollywood.”
Why is it pushing the Academy and the industry backwards? A change in how they constitute the membership, for example, to secure diversity. How is that not going forwards?
Here have Micheal Caine’s too because the old white Brits. Atleast it will be over in one day ;
“You can’t vote for an actor because he’s black,” said @themichaelcaine about #Oscars: http://bbc.in/1SB1SMz
then why start a conversation about diversity focusing on a group that by definition is exclusive and finds its more relevant mission in excluding 100 to select 1 and shine an exclusive light on that 1? That is my point.
More than 6000 professional and artists are criticised for two main reasons: they have a long history (and they don’t kill old white members) and they reflect with their choices the rights and wrongs of the eligible productions presented to them each year. The very wrong notion that this Academy should reflect a sort of ideal Hollywood, an ideal America, where minorities are all living with equal opportunities is just smoke in the eyes to reassure and sedate. What oscar so white and boycott the oscar is doing is push backwards the Academy not forward and it will not change a bit Hollywood.
I love how Michael Caine and Charlotte Rampling just dismissed all this annoying #OscarsSoWhite whining… Priceless.
You must be talking of continental Europe specifically ? Because toeing the line and then saying that reverse racism is real are two different things.
As for the first part :
AI like Charlotte Rampling but she is not really a big enough star that there will be anything to distract her campaign now. This will be her narrative.
Lmao
If you want to call me a bully go right ahead but please do not think i am a guy.
I do think most stars are PC-friendly material, because that’s an honest reflection of who they are. But Rampling has never ever played the game (it cost her a BAFTA nod), she’s just being herself, not bowing down to any demands but her own. She’s the same with the work she chooses to do.
But, the thing is, in Europe, we adore people like Lars von Trier for saying whatever they feel like saying. We may shake our heads in disbelief, but basically, we think it’s good when artists fail to toe the line…
Milli is a hyper-sensitive bully and nothing more. Ignore him.
I am not talking of Redmayne and his carefully constructed persona. I am talking of out and about British stars most people on the state side of the pond has not heard about.
well, yeah, Rampling is more of a special case. First, she’s another generation than Redmayne and his ilk and, second, she’s half French, you know…
Nah thanks.
Yet most British stars are PC and do not even have to pull the how-PC-is-harming-their-craft card.
Ok, i think ‘racist to white people’ is taking it too far, however, while I am disappointed in another year of #OscarsSoWhite, specifically this year I think a lot of the blame lies with the studios and the people that determine what movies actually get made, not with the Academy.
Disclamer : This is my personal opinion, like the nominations where the personal opinions of the voters.
For me, the only truly egregious snub of a non-white actor was Benicio Del Toro for Sicario. Michael B. Jordan and Creed definitely didn’t do it for me, not because it was bad, just because I thought it didn’t bring anything new to the standard sports movie formula. Idris Elba was probably also close, and critically acclaimed, but there was the whole Netflix controversy for the movie, so his snub was no worse than the also critically acclaimed Michael Shannon in 99 Homes, which was also a problematic movie because of low B.O..
And I think (hope) that’s what Charlotte Rampling was trying to say : that these worthy performances by non-white actors getting snubbed is no worse than all the other worthy performances by white actors getting snubbed. It’s not fair to judge the Oscars on reflecting cultural diversity, because that is not their purpose, their purpose is to award the best. You can say “I disagree with their picks because I thought other performances were better” but it’s not quite fair to say “I disagree with their picks because they didn’t accurately reflect the racial makeup of our society”. That’s not the point of the Oscars.
A much bigger problem, that’s essentially at the root, is the fact that there are not enough movies with non-white casts. That is a valid criticism, because the people that make movies, at least movies set in contemporary society, do have a responsibility to reflect the reality of society and the reality is minorities are very much present in all the roles white people are also present in.
So, my opinion is that the blame largely lies with the industry and not the Oscars.
Get a life- seriously.
How does the history of the institution help in this case ? Someone would have to be brain dead to not know what it is and most people by now know how it works. People do not obsessively care about Oscars race as you or I do but should that mean they should not get a say ?
No matter what, it’s a shame that her winning or not winning will be framed as a response to her comments.
“If you are part of that group, of course you’re going to get painted with the same brush”.
That is what sounds extremely wrong to me.
It’s too easy to just outright condemn Rampling for… well… rambling… I mean, the atmosphere when it comes to this type of discussion is completely different in Europe. There is no PC police on your back for saying stuff like this, which is not that ‘out there’ an opinion, if you focus on what she’s actually saying (and not what some may think she’s implying). American stars are well-versed (schooled) to act and say stuff that are in line with current PC trends, it’s not the same in Europe where we kind of expect artists to say all that’s decidedly NOT PC. It’s unfortunate that she says that she’s not so sure that any black actors deserved the nomination (I mean, why go into that discussion, it will only make you seem ungracious), but, I have to say, I don’t entirely disagree with her in that it’s problematic to resort to charges of racism against the Academy, especially considering this is the result of an individual voting process, where it is impossible to form a collective agenda. But, yeah, she could have framed it differently… but then again, European stars are not publicity-trained to only utter platitudes, like Americans.
If you need to make a point highlighting how much of a white apologist you are please do not do so in reply to my comments so i do not have to receive notifications for it thanks.
Well, let me take the opportunity to make this about something else (and completely irrelevant, really): Who was right about The Martian? Me or you? You said that it would gain 1 or 2 noms at most, I said it would get at least 6 (and more likely, 7 or 8) noms…Sorry, just had to bring that up (I waited patiently, after all!)
There was a vote which represents the collective opinion of a particular group. We saw the results and are responding to it. “ALL” is not implied, but “majority” is. It’s not a generalization but a reaction to a specific announcement that represents the opinion of a specific group. If you are part of that group, of course you’re going to get painted with the same brush. Clubhouse rules.
Charlotte Rampling speaks the truth! It’s insulting to not just white people, but VOTERS to say they’re racist every time no black people get nominated. Come on! They just gave 12 Years a Slave best picture, and in the past 15 years alone there have been diverse lineups in the acting races, including one year where both Berry and Washington took lead prizes. The African Americans will complain no matter what happens. If they get nominated, then its “Oh well we’re getting nominated for stereotypical roles”. If they don’t get nominated, it’s “Oh the academy is racist.” Seriously, enough!!! And Will Smith can sit his ass at home. He’s just bitter he missed out for Concussion.
First of all I think that when someone wants to understand a problem and address an issue the first thing is to study and getting to know the issue and the actors involved. I honestly feel a lot of people calling the Academy out don’t even take some time to understand the history of this institution how it works and what it is.
What is the right way to call someone out then ?
a lot of people here and elsewhere are very easy to call names and they feel free to call Academy members racists and even the title of this post, really, does it implies that ALL Academy members thinks the same and are in agreement with Robert L whose comment is featured here? Well, I just want to point out that generalisation mixed with a supposed superiority is the super food of racism.
I’m offended by Eddie Redmayne says “this movie is not about sex, it is not about gender, it is about the soul” Gee, I have a soul? And it took a straight brit to tell me that? Hollywood is so embarrassingly behind the times.
lol nah.
I’m sich of straight men apologizing overtime they play a gay role (and only straight people get the gay roles.
I think the point there are not very many substantial roles given to minorities. If casting wasn’t racist, the voting may not have been?
Its not like being problematic has ever stopped the Oscars.
I’ve liked her. This disappoints me. Rampling doesn’t know Hollywood thinks they are liberal by giving her an award for getting old and not having work down. Her remarks are iignorant and show the attitude in Europe where their “race problem” is the people they brought home from the lands they once conquered. Cartoonists flaunted their freedom of speech by grotesquely degrading people. They had the right, of course, but was their statement of importance to test this right?
Did Rampling just win or just lose the Oscar?
Charlotte rambling, amirite?
You hear about people voting for movies without watching them, someone did it with Room this year, there were reports for 12YAS.. so if they have to fill out 10 nominees would there not be high chance they see like 3 or 4 and then fill in the films that are buzzed about as important without seeing them ?
But then they’d be guilty of discrimination themselves. You can’t tell someone that their tastes are irrelevant, and use that to deny them a privilege they’ve (technically) rightfully earned. It’s got to be on principle. And that’d weed out a few fantastic artists who are sure to make brilliant choices, but it’d weed out the masses of imbeciles who bring the whole enterprise down year after year. It’d be worth it imo.
And anyway, IMDb lists Milos Forman as having racked up screen credits on six different projects in the last ten years. So he could stay. The bit-players and gaffers who did 3 B-movies in the 1950s and haven’t worked since would go.
NOOOOOO!!!
But she is lowkey bad interviewee and a lot of her THR interview was kind of side eye worthy.
Heaven forbid Rampling wins over Larson (who’s lamented the nominations) now… That would send a terrible message about the Academy’s feelings on the matter.
Oscars 2016: Charlotte Rampling says diversity row is ‘racist to white people’
Oh jeez….
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/jan/22/oscars-2016-charlotte-rampling-diversity-row-racist-to-white-people
Oh i like Clark Gregg and all but he is not really someone i would say who has made a mark on movies. Same with people like Josh Hutcherson. Mainly said his name because i remember his from the recent inductees.
Thanks for reminding me she said this. I thought it was a beautifully understated way to put it and so utterly true.
Steve, I don’t agree that the academy is racist but thank you for calling out on other minorities being snubbed. It’s not just a black issue. I also think TH’s Carol was the true snub of the year, easily more deserving than at least 2 nominees, in my opinion, the Martian (overrated) and Brooklyn (nice but not “best” material)
It’s not just black actors. It’s candidates for most categories and is not just colour issue – it’s a minority issue. Todd Haynes should probably be on his third nom for BD. Oscar Isaac’s performance in Ex Machina is as good as, if not better, than any of the other nominees – why has he been left out yet again? Why was the most acclaimed film of the year that happened to centre itself around two female protagonists not included in the BP list? What’s with the omission of Sicario from the major awards section of the roster – surely anybody who has seen it would agree it is as good as any of the BP nominees.
There are too many coincidences this year for it to be considered a random situation.
And what about the first 20 years of the Academy’s existence? It is no longer the early 20th Century – skilled people of all persuasions are now working in the business, yet the Oscars has presented us with the most straight, white, male-centric slate in its history. Even in the 30s and 40s there were a greater percentage of female-centered stories making the BP list.
As far as campaigning and its impact goes, if we lowly folk out in nowhereland are aware of these omissions – we who have zero connections to the Academy and its internal workings – how can you asssume that voting members somehow missed them? Not interested in a Todd Haynes film? Missed Sicario or Ex Machina or maybe thought Del Toro and Isaac weren’t quite up to Ruffalo and Bale? Dismissed Straight/Compton because they prefer Mancini to rap? No amount of campaigning can overcome prejudice.
Nope, this has become an exclusive, all-white country club that loves to masquerade as (to paraphrase Bertolucci when he won in the late 80s) the great tit of the film industry from which everyone feeds. It’s now 2016 and “everyone” is not welcome and need not apply.
Edited!
that’s exactly what I’m saying, the term POC is not restricted to black people. You’re wrong about Asians and Mexican directors being nominated all the time; it’s been one Asian and two mexicans, there has been more black nominees and when it comes to the acting and writing categories, it’s far less than black people. However, that’s not my point, my point is there cannot be diversity among the nominees if there isn’t diversity in the movies themselves and the Oscars aren’t to blame and shouldn’t be called racists for it. As we champion black filmmakers, we should also champion Latino and Asian directors too. An Academy that gives Ang Lee (snubbing white boy Ben) and then two mexicans their best director prize and 12 years a slave their best picture is not racist. No black film has won since because no film has merited it. Creed and SOC are no 12YAS. No one seems to embrace Iññarritu’s amazing feat w/the academy and he’s doing so with unorthodox films and I feel if he was black, the reception would be different on this site.
SAG Awards had Idris Elba in Best Supporting Actor and TWO movies with black ensembles in Best Ensemble. Try again?
Subjectivity doesn’t mean selling shit as if it was chocolate.
With the recent activity in the industry, I’d go for merit too. Like, Milos Forman hasn’t made a movie in 10 years but he’s a former formidable director, Oscar winner and film genius. So he can vote 😀
“White actors were snubbed too.”
Poor white people, they only got 100% of the acting slots. They wanted even more than that.
‘But to lower the standards to increase the number of Blacks and other minority members is terribly wrong and would diminish the honor that Academy membership is.’
You think you’re deserving of that honour? Cos you’re a racist cunt, pet.
I’m with you on kicking out people who can’t list 10 movies they like. There could be some dunces who fill out the remaining slots with a bunch of shite just to maintain their relevance, though, but hopefully this measure would encourage members to watch more movies.
However, I totally do wanna get rid of members who don’t work in the industry any more. Sure, some of them may be filling out informed ballots, but this has got to be a decision based on principle, not practice – otherwise, it’s just discriminatory. It’s entirely reasonable to tell voters that, if they’re no longer an active part of the film industry, they’ve no place voting on prestigious industry awards. Those informed voters who’d thus be disqualified from voting would be collateral damage in a process which, I believe, is likely to yield a more diverse field of nominees.
And when they did act, they had like 2 bit parts in B-movies, and only got Academy membership cos they sucked some producer’s cock.
Damn! That Robert L is PISSED off. He should just take a deep breath, calm down, and then react.
Gosh, yes, it’s all so clear now. It’s their fault! Everybody knows biopics never win Oscars! Movies about pilots and scientists win Oscars! Problem solved!
Discriminate!
“As random and subjective as this award is” – Cate Blanchett, 2014 Oscar Acceptance Speech
Each year, several hundred baseball writers (members of the Baseball Writers Association of America) vote on who they feel is worthy of induction into the Hall of Fame. In past years, it’s been a field of roughly 525 voters but this past winter it was cut down by about 100. The reason? Those 100 voters no longer covered baseball, or had admittedly not followed the sport in modern times, or some didn’t fill out ballots altogether.
So those 100 went out, and no surprise, several players saw their overall percentage of the vote swell considerably. It’s a high standard for induction (75%) and there are many players currently eligible who have a strong case for induction; as many as 15-20 guys, in my opinion, and voters are only allowed to list ten names on their ballot. So in weeding out those 100 votes of dead weight, you suddenly had an overall more informed voting pool making the decisions. Many of the old-timer voters, for instance, were automatically against any player connected to steroid use in the past, or ones who were even rumoured (with no proof) to have ever used steroids. Some of the old-timers who didn’t fill out ballots did so out of protest against “the steroid era,” or weren’t up on advanced statistics that proved certain players were underrated, or other outmoded beliefs.
Not hard to see how this couldn’t be applied to the Academy. For instance, I’m sure there’s a notable chunk of the electorate that doesn’t even fill out their Oscar ballots every year. If you do it two years in a row, you should lose that privilege altogether. If you get some cranks who just put one movie on their Best Picture ballot (or one actor in each nominated category), they should lose their ballots too. Admittedly, the “no longer working in the business” is harder to prove and enforce here than it is for a sportswriter no longer covering baseball — you don’t want to kick out some elderly Academy member who hasn’t worked in 30 years based on age or resume alone since, for all we know, they could be filling out a very informed and well-reasoned ballot.
Still, there are definitely a lot of ways to improve the voting process and removing some of the dead weight voters throwing wrenches into the ranked-ballot system.
Or, here’s an idea, get rid of the damned ranked-ballot system altogether! Why is voting for Best Picture not just “hey everyone, list your favourite five movies of the year in any order on your ballot. The 10 movies that get the most votes are our Best Picture field”?
If “Robert L” is actually an Academy member, then ye gods.
Here’s the thing about the “voting on merit” argument. If you don’t think Creed, Straight Outta Compton, Beasts Of No Nation, etc. were one of the year’s 8-10 best films, that’s perfectly fine. I personally thought Creed was incredible (it would’ve been on my Best Picture ballot), Beasts was very good but not great, and SOC was pretty average aside from some great performances from Jason Mitchell and Paul Giamatti. This is a valid opinion to have in what I believe has been a very deep year for excellent movies.
Where Robert L’s argument falls apart, however, is that it’s LAUGHABLE to claim that the Academy votes on merit when literally every year features at least a few nominees that raise eyebrows. I mean, this has to be the weakest Best Actor year in ages. If you don’t think Abraham Attah or Michael B. Jordan deserves a Best Actor nomination, you’re entitled to your opinion, but you’re honestly telling me they deserve it less than…
* Cranston, for a broad caricature role he could do in his sleep? (Seriously, we all saw Cranston’s A-game for six years on Breaking Bad…Trumbo was C-minus work from him.)
* Damon, for essentially playing himself?
* Fassbender, for impersonating not Steve Jobs, but Bradley Whitford’s West Wing character?
* Redmayne, for a not-even-good performance? (I feel that everyone involved with Danish Girl really had their hearts in the right place but man, the end result was so cringe-inducingly maudlin.)
* DiCaprio, for signing up for a difficult shoot? It blows my mind that THIS will finally be his Oscar-winning role when he’s given literally 15-20 better performances.
Don’t try to sell me on this merit argument and then turn around and nominate this weak-ass Best Actor field, Bridge Of Spies for Best Picture, unintelligible Tom Hardy or one-note Mark Rylance over Idris Elba, etc.
I think they are calling out Oscar because it is THE coveted award of all acting awards. If you want people to notice your excellence in performance or film in its entirety, you’d want representation at the Oscars.
She changed that opinion later on when she was educated on the legality of how such case works with statute of limitations.
First paragraph of your post….agreed. It really feels like there are far too many Academy members publicly (anonymously) or privately whining that voting for 12YAS somehow absolves them of ever “having” to vote for an African-American centric film ever again.
Second paragraph of your post….uh, not really sure why Clark Gregg is being singled out. A fine character actor with a 30-year career, why shouldn’t he be in AMPAS? I find it hard to believe he’s the most eyebrow-raising inclusion within the membership. How about some of these old-timers who haven’t worked on a movie since the 60’s but have been clinging to membership ever since?
The Globes members are diversified and each year they pretty much serve up an identical platter of white nominees.
I don’t get the outrage at the academy. At the industry? Yes! But at the Academy? The SAG awards had one black nominee this year and none last year. Yet noone is calling them out.
The material just wasn’t there this year which – yet again – is a problem of the industry. Even Wesley Morris didn’t like Straight Outta Compton very much and that movie would have made the list if they went back to ten nominees.
I think the discussion is good, I think boycott changes nothing. Black actors should be going and voicing their displeasure with the industry to every camera in sight. I think and know that Chris Rock will make very smart and thoughtful quips about this. And the academy will put many black actors on stage who can do the same thing.
I also think that the success of SAC will propel a little bit of change in the coming years since more movies will aim at the african american community. Change is slow, but it’ll come.
Whoopi also thinks Bill Cosby is innocent. She’s got a great sense of reality.
thank you for looking at the bigger picture than simply crying over oscars, i mean for god sake its the studio heads that are to blame for the mess and i don’t know why all of a sudden these people are complaining now when this has been happening for quite a while
I think we all know it isn’t about merit, that it’s subjective. Awards don’t change what we love and they certainly don’t determine longevity. It’s a game. At the same time, it’d be nice if that game tried to play fair.
Whoopi Goldberg is right.
Hi Sasha, can you write up an article addressing or critique Whoopi Goldberg’s take on this #OscarSoWhite? I’ll send you a link on twitter.
Thanks.
In an otherwise open and conciliatory message from former AMPAS Pres. Hawk Koch, there was this line:
“I know that many programs already exist but, clearly our industry needs to do more to find and develop talent in all the crafts.”
That in itself is fine, but Idris, Ava, DavidO, Oscar, Benicio, Bradford, Coogler, Todd, Cary Fuji et al are complete, fully developed and proven talents – the best in the biz. The issue is one of acknowledgement, of recognizing their unique contributions that are on par with, if not better than, most of their peers. If they weren’t influential artists, you wouldn’t be recognizing who I am talking about when I don’t need to use their complete names.
I don’t know why this is so hard for them to understand that simple fact.
http://www.eonline.com/news/732878/janet-hubert-on-jada-pinkett-smith-s-oscars-boycott-it-s-self-contrived-because-will-smith-was-not-nominated?utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=imdb_topstories
guess what? I can refer to any non-white person as a “person of color”, in fact in my country a “colored person” refers to an indigenous person not black, so I don’t HAVE to put black people foremost when I discuss it. If you’re gonna make a counter argument to my post, you should think it through a little better. The Academy has had questionable taste throughout their history and it’s all very subjective, they didn’t nominate some of the best films of all time, recently, The Master, Dark Knight, Shame (directed by a black man) and not out of racism but poor taste. Does this merit a stronger discussion? Absolutely and I hope Chris Rock addresses it properly but calling people racist is not mature when true racism goes far beyond a group not including a black performer among their favorite 5 of the year. Only Idris was really snubbed in my opinion, and Benicio (a latino), but for Idris it was the whole Netflix thing that did him in (which should be a bigger topic of conversation btw)
Guess what? Black people COINED the term “people of colour”. You cannot rally for “people of colour” if you do not put black people first and foremost. No need to silence black voices because they weren’t specific enough in their discussion. It’s still important and valid.
stop saying “people of color” and just say black people weren’t nominated because no one is rallying behind other minorities being snubbed. Latinos are the largest minority group in this country and buy more movie tickets (more than white people and black) and yet no outcry or boycott calls. If Birdman and Revenant had been directed by a black man they would surely be deserving of back to back Oscars and it would be “the right thing to do” on this site. The Academy is not racist and cannot nominate to satisfy the races. Do the Right Thing should’ve won in 1989, as should’ve Vertigo, 2001, Citizen Kane, Social Network in their years. It’s just an award! Do the Right Thing wasn’t forgotten because it wasn’t nominated nor will Straight Outta Compton if it’s that good, and winning doesn’t guarantee anyone will give a shit either. The Oscars are not a civil rights matter. There have been undeniable performances and films coming from many races and nations in 88 years that were never recognized and no one keeps complaining, and there have been more black honorees than any other minority group. It’s Hollywood to blame not the academy.
I don’t think it’s okay for white people to hide under anonymous labels to pretend to be black, etc. and act like racism doesn’t exist LMAO. It’s one of the funniest things in the internet age. Sigh.
If you want to continue to comment with an entirely new ID, that’s ok. Start fresh — I won’t call you out again. Just please stick to one identity unless there’s a really good reason not to, alright?
Thank you Polly, i’ve sampled a few of those and they make the blood pressure rise to unacceptable levels. One of the first times I became cognoscente of how little the Oscars were about merit, was way back in the 1981 awards when both Fonda and Hepburn received awards. Hepburn already had 3 leading actress Oscars. The sentiment wave I understood for Fonda, but to overlook Streep, Diane Keaton, Marsha Mason and Susan Sarandon; not to mention Burt Lancaster, Paul Newman and Warren Beatty for the treacle fest that was On Golden Pond – at the age of 15 I knew it was about sentiment and politics. Reds overlooked for Chariots of Fire. In the 35 years since, nothing surprises me about who they include or who they exclude.
Both were popular throughout the critics race, followed by Brooklyn nabbing PGA and Room had won the People’s Choice award from Toronto, so the latter was basically guaranteed a Best Picture nomination.
SOC and IO earning a few nominations from the guilds and nabbing screenplay nods was to show that SOC had no more buzz than the others that got left out.
LOL thanks for that Ryan assuming you meant replies to some comment I made.
Brooklyn and Room’s immense popularity where ? Among Oscar predictors? It sure as hell wasn’t popular among the general public.
Compton earned a best original screenplay too. How does it help your case tho ?
To have the statement, “It’s called VOTING” appear just ahead of a remark about “lowering standards” to allow more minority members says it all.
It’s like a party where suddenly a bad smell fills the room and everybody immediately says “It wasn’t ME.”
Sicario has PGA, WGA, and ACE, so it didn’t really have anything more. Inside Out was nominated for animated PGA and ACE (not eligible for the WGA for some bizarre reason), and even earned a Best Original Screenplay nod on top of its Best Animated Feature nomination, so it probably would have nabbed a WGA nod (obviously never in the running for SAG). Brooklyn and Room were always more favored to make it because of their immense popularity. Ex Machina… well it probably did have more buzz than it, but it was another victim of the WGA and wasn’t an ensemble film either, though it did get a DGA nod for Best First Film by a Director.
Did you ever read the Brutally Honest Oscar Voters? Some of the thinking involves made me want to beat my head against a wall. How anyone can say “it’s all based on merit” with a straight face is beyond me.
good god your comments are so funny now.
It clearly had more buzz than Sicario and Inside Out and Ex Machina and wayy more than Brooklyn and Room but you do you i guess.
Well, as I said, its WGA nomination probably wouldn’t have happened without their ridiculous rules, leaving it with a PGA nomination and a rather empty SAG nomination for Best Cast. Revenant was never going to get the SAG nod for Best Cast because it’s not an ensemble film, but it got major support from PGA, DGA, and ACE. As I said, SOC basically had no more buzz than the others that got left off, and the other films were clearly liked a lot more, not only from critics, but based on the nods the BP nominations received.
Well then if it was nominated in most places how do you not get the buzz?? Bridge of Spies missed on DGA, as did Room and Brooklyn. SPotlight missed ACE. Every movie this year has missed atleast one guild or major precursor award as you must know. Revenant was nominated without WGA,SAG and AFI. Mad Max without SAG and WGA. SOC missed relatively less for a nomination
I don’t get my buzz from publications like that. I get it from the nominations themselves, things that actually matter. SOC did get nominated for the PGA, WGA (though it more than likely would have been knocked out if The Hateful Eight, Ex Machina, and Inside Out had been eligible),and SAG, but only Best Cast (i.e. no individual nominations, so it didn’t mean that much). It missed out on the DGA and ACE, so in the end, we’re looking at a movie that had no more buzz than several others.
Or if you even want to go way back to its critical consensus: Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 7.4/10 and Metacritic gave it a 72/100, which is less than all of the BP nominees.
now that said i don’t disagree with some arguments below like what ariel said i can see where she’s coming from …
but i don’t agree this oscarsowhite is the way to go, they’re basically shading a party for not getting an exclusive invit and be among the popular kids but still want to go the party and would jump at opportunity to be a part of the in club (but that’s a universal grass is greener pb not specific to blacks) in the end dunno what is more the right or wrong move but personally i’m of a mind if they nominate you be happy be thankful to who you have to in your entourage and if they don’t no big deal you keep on doing your thing acting is your craft not award fishing
I agree with the main point here, but it’s time to move beyond blaming faceless suits and hold the visible filmmakers accountable….. the directors who visualize lily white projects and hire all white craft and tech directors/crews. Why are all the composers white? Why aren’t blacks integrated into their stories? We want to know.
I don’t buy the excuse that they are afraid of negative response if they don’t handle black characters or black stories correctly. They are criticized constantly for everything, often by people with power. It’s part of being an artist at their level. It’s bullshit for them to say they are scared away by fear of offending people. I imagine slapping their faces like Cher.
i saw straight outta compton and barring the vulgarity/woman degrading due to lyrics but not only its a pretty good movie ,
creed saw it last week it was good loved stallone performance but seriously why would anyone seriously consider michael b jordan best actor material , if there was a best newcomer award sure a nom maybe …but i rolled my eyes profusely when he ran with these “young promising black men ” on bikes riding doing dumb ass bums wheel in the air , that shit killed any emotional resonance call back that scene might have had otherwise , i did like the girl acting but was it such a performance it couldn’t be denied uhh nope,
i haven’t seen concussion but i sure saw original aunt viv shading the smiths that was funny as hell and lets be real i don’t like will smith for less i’m a fan of tom cruise enough said ! actors are delicate creatures …
i also haven’t seen beasts of no nation been meaning to but the subject isn’t palatable and my timing off but i’ll get around it , that said yeah idris elba is only true snub because to me he oozes actor’s actor presence /charisma!
so what other black snubs were there anyway ?
frankly i too i’m more psyched about inarritu making history along with leo apart from that not much churning my passion this year and i’m all the better for it some years can be painful when your champion is the utter indie or blockbuster underdog like this year star wars boo hoo hoo
Well, after covering the awards season from end to end, I’d like to know where it was. I didn’t say there was no buzz, just not that much. I think this is another one of the big problems. People who have followed the awards races for several years from beginning to end know when to be surprised when something makes it or doesn’t, which is why I said the only surprise was Idris Elba not being nominated. The rest of the examples from my original comment were not surprising at all.
Just because you did not hear about it does not mean that it was not there.
Never heard that much buzz for it. Though there was constant buzz around Sicario, Carol, Inside Out, and even a little around Ex Machina, and none of them made it either.
SOC got nods from PGA, WGA , SAG and the AFI which is more than can be said for the actual BP nominees. There was also a ton of buzz around it.
They gave 12 YAS an award 2 years ago and thats the quota filled for a decade. They gave Lupita the Oscar 2 years ago and that is another quota filled for a decade. Now they will just keep referencing these wins as to how inclusive the Oscar is. These people will come out of the woodwork claiming as to how they did not really think it was Best Picture material but still gave it as if they did not do so for the shot of moral high.
About the strict standards: Clark Gregg who acts as Agent Coulson in Avengers movie is a memeber of AMPAs. SoThey can stop now with their high standards bullshit.
PS: I love these posts exposing the apologists asses. Keep going!!
How bad can your reading comprehension be to get this from all the text that has been written about this issue?
LOL.
Those were horrible times. Also for white women, in a different way, and what about gays… horrible. But you have to recognise it was a huge statement to have her winning the Oscar at that time.
And again, my point is that the Academy is by definition an exclusive club, it is also a deforming magic mirror which gives back a more truthful (even when it’s creepy) image of the industry it awards. I don’t find the Academy the problem, I think the Academy is, even with this discussion, an articulated vehicle to a better movie industry.
Nothing wrong with that – fire in the belly, spirit and all that jazz! 🙂
but you just proved you have no confidence in your point. Sorry
more than in one topic… but sometimes is nice to agree on something.
Ok. I’ll stop lol. I wanted to prove a point. Sorry.
Thank you Gus; although i was debating with myself as to whether to dignify the above comment.
I think that moderator is the opposite of instigator. And your post came across to me as rude. Now you pointed out that Chris is a bunch of other people, that I don’t like and I take off all my up votes.
Sorry, I know we butted heads in another topic. I know you’re one of the good guys.
I know, we’ve known each other for close to a decade. Why all of a sudden are you thinking that I need to give up my right to say what I’m feeling?
Not enjoyable for you, but thank you very much for letting us know that this person is not behaving in the right way and I will stop commenting his /her/ it posts.
“I’m black”
This sounds like a lie.
Are Chris and JOHN and Laila all black? Because you’re all commenting from the same laptop.
LMAO yikes…
I know, I was not saying I didn’t know your role here. Infact I was saying the opposite.
JOHN / Chris / Laila
This is the 9th comment you’ve made on this page, — that’s almost 25% of all the comments here.
So can you at least please stop pretending to be 3 different people? You make it look like a bunch of people agree with you, but no, it’s just you, you, you.
Another weird thing? You are “Kyle” too.
So what you’re doing right here is pretending to have a conversation with yourself.
It’s creepy.
You can keep doing it if you want to. I’m just letting the other readers know what you’re up to. But go ahead and pretend to be 15 other people if you’re having fun.
(see, Aku Max? This is me being a moderator. Does it look enjoyable?)
LOL, I guess so. Cheryl Boone Issaacs the president of the Academy is going to be inviting more black people and she’s going to be proposing new rules. She thinks that black academy members are going to be voting for films like Ride Along 2 to support their people because that’s what’s all about, white people vote for white people and black people vote for black people no matter how bad or good the material is.
Thanks for the welcoming, Ryan. I figured you might be a little bruised and battered by this point in the season! (Or a lot). But plenty of folks here I know appreciate what you do and what a gift this platform is for us to come and play here. Onwards and Upwards my friend. 🙂
I just want to make it clear that I am not saying that Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith shouldn’t have a voice in matters, and they have every right to voice their opinions, I just think that this isn’t the right place when there are bigger things going on in the world and even in the movie industry
daveinprogress, it’s always good to see you again.
I look forward to more of your comments on posts that aren’t so saddening.
cheers.
Thank you Ryan; I second that reaction.
Do you not know me, Aku Max?
I’ve been Sasha’s assistant editor for the past 9 years.
Yes. I think it’s gross to hear somebody — anybody — say something so stupid and crude as “black actors love to complain.”
I’m not moderating that comment. I’m reacting to it. Like a human being.
I’m not exercising any more authority or power than you are. I’m just making a comment of my own.
So if Ride Along 2 is the only black film in contention this year should the Oscar nominate it for Best Picture in 2017?
I’m not totally disagreeing with you Ariel, all I would say is that this is the same industry that made Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith generationally wealthy…hence why they might not be the right people to talk about something as seemingly meaningless as an award
If you say so.
But as a hispanic, I can see very well the differences in how minorities groups react…
While I disagree with your stance, I respect it.
I don’t need to call you names. I can be an adult.
Ok. I saw the sign MOD. Anyway, I simply felt yours was not an opinion but a a subtle way to call Chris a racist and imply his skin color based on the point he was making. Maybe I misunderstood.
It is naive of people to think that just because someone is black, that person is going to vote for black people and black films. I’m black and If I were an Academy member, my picks wouldn’t vary that much from those of the Academy. Sorry!! but, I didn’t see enough great black films this year worth of an Oscar nomination.
you nincompoop. I you think white people don’t complain then you’ve never been around one for 5 minutes.
The only black actor I’m surprised didn’t get the nod was Idris Elba, whose brilliant performance had been acknowledged with nominations from SAG, the HFPA, and the BFCA, so it was really surprising that he didn’t make the final cut, especially over people like Stallone, Hardy, and Ruffalo (none of whom received a SAG nod).
Michael B. Jordan was nominated in a couple of places and won a couple of times, but was never considered a really strong contender, and the film itself was never considered a prime candidate for Best Picture, so it’s odd that some are getting particularly worked up over these two potential nominees.
It’s pretty much the same situation with Will Smith and Concussion. He got a Golden Globe nomination and that was pretty much it. Why did anyone think he’d get an Oscar nod?
As for Straight Outta Compton, it did get nods from the PGA, WGA, and SAG (Best Cast), but again, it never really got that much buzz for Best Picture, so its exclusion wasn’t a surprise. Nobody seems to be mad that Sicario didn’t make it to Best Picture after getting PGA and WGA nods, or that Trumbo got left out after getting nods from the WGA and SAG (Best Cast).
How about we look at Chivo making history by getting his third Oscar in a row or the potential for Inarritu to make more history by possibly winning Picture and Director back to back?
I’m only a moderator if I need to delete somebody who’s threatening to fuck the mothers and sisters of other readers. Like I had to do 2 days ago.
I’m only a moderator when I’m cautioning someone that they are violating AD community standards.
I’m not moderating anyone’s comments right now.
yes, have the usually very un-fun job of taking care of problems in the comments.
no, I don’t give up my right to express My Own Opinion.
Great question; thank you Lily for asking. Before Halle Berry/Denzel Washington’s wins, it was a novelty to have a person of colour win; after it, it seemed, to me anyway, and the media reporting that it was no longer noteworthy; which felt like progress, as some great performances were being nominated and rewarded.
I respect your opinion but highly disagree ( acting wise, Beyonce’s singing excluded)
Perhaps it’s “funny” but it’s definitely true.
You don’t see Hispanic/asian/arab/native americans complaining… Just African Americans.
Well said!
“They even gave Hatte Macdaniels an Oscar back when blacks were fighting to end segregation.
ah yes, the Academy helping Hattie McDaniel fight segregation.
By seating her at a tiny round table with the only other black person.. at the far edge of a sea of white faces.
Seated her at the back of the ballroom.
Have trouble finding Hattie McDaniel? That’s because the photographer did his best to cut her out of the shot.
I’ll put an arrow at the very bottom edge of the photo so you can locate the top half of her face.
Where are the rest of the Gone with the Wind cast and filmmakers? God only knows. But they are far far away from Hattie McDaniel.
Preach!
So why were they doing better with diversity in the ’00’s than they are now? Are there actually less serious, Oscar-worthy movies being made with POC now then there were 10 years ago? Not that everything was perfect, but they were definitely improving, and it was the same Academy, so why this regression?
Being the moderator and popping up to call people, who are expressing their opinion (always debatable) without attacking others, racists is just wrong, in my opinion. Also, implying the skin color and the race of a reader based on his/her opinions is sad.
Black people love to play the victim and racism card, when they are the most racist and bullies of them all. So what, Blacks didn’t get Oscar nominations, is not the end of the world. Move on!!! Life isn’t fair for anyone.
How 51 percent of Oscar voters are on the honesty scale..
That’s the point I was trying to make too.
“…Black actors love to complain…”
funny the things that slip out of the mouths of some white people when they’re pretending to be oblivious to darker skin colors
Exactly what Ariel so beautifully said. Systematic bias. Besides, doesn’t anyone remember back in 2005 when many high profile Academy members DID tell us what was in their heads when they were voting?? “I will not even watch Brokeback Mountain because John Wayne would roll over in his grave”. What more do you need to know their biases and prejudices?? And when you’re pretty much the only group that excludes the minorities, you’ve gotta wonder all the more, since clearly numerous others whose opinions also count had no problem including films with minorities in their annual honors. O for 40??
But Idris Elba had tons of momentum, nominated and winning other prizes all over the place. And Compton – a movie I didn’t even like – was up for PGA, SAG, WGA, which kind of means you are “supposed” to get nominated, based upon the stats, and what the industry is doing. Yeah, something always gets snubbed, when its almost always the films that feature people of color, except for the rare juggernaut like 12 Years a Slave, you’ve gotta wonder. And when you have Academy members arrogantly responding that way, its not a surprise.
They definitely should empathise and vote for films which are not eligible and/or which have not been produced at all.
Humpty Oscar sat on wall (aka a wall the blocked POC and LGBT)
Humpty Oscar had a great fall
All the lazy voters and incompetent white men
Couldn’t fix the Oscars together again!
An award show which awards excellence. Even though it is “just” an awards show it’s still regarded to award the best of the best. Film is art and is a respectable form of it too. If minorities are excluded from these awards then there are also problems. Then again, the Academy is reflective of the racist, sexist, queerphobic industry and the issue stretches far beyond.
The key word is systematic bias and believe it or not most people don’t recognise their own systematic racial biases even though they are guilty of it. Isn’t it telling that people of colour are more likely to be nominated for playing typecast roles. Black women have mostly won/been nominated for playing slaves, maids, abusive mothers, and even Latin men have mostly won/been nominated in movies about drugs, etc.
The voting process BECOMES racism when Academy members refuse to empathise with films which are not centred around white men. The subjectivity becomes a complicated one also.
Ok, I know I’m going to be attacked on here and that is not why I am writing this, however I just want to say that I think it is really a beautiful thing that we live in a country where black people can have #whitepeopleproblems …And I am only half kidding when I say that. I mean what are we really talking about here, really? We are talking about a subjective award based on Art (something, unlike a sport, that literally has no ranking system other than what “people” think). And I am not saying this as someone dissing the Oscars, I love the Oscars, have since I was 12 and I randomly saw Fargo with my mother and then was amazed when a movie that I loved (but didn’t totally understand at the time) was nominated for best picture (then devastated when it lost, not the last time that happened). In the end there are three millionaires complaining about not being recongnized by an award show for an industry that has helped make them millionaires, it’s a little hard to feel sorry for them.
The other thing is, and here is my actual problem with this #Oscarsowhite nonsense, that (in the general public, maybe no completely on this site) it’s obscuring the actual issue…the issue being the roles and jobs aren’t there. That should be the CONVERSATION (and i write that in caps because it doesn’t have to be a shouting match, it doesn’t have to be every assigning blame with no real solutions, it should be just that, a conversation). Not whether or not Will Smith gets his third Oscar Nomination, it’s why TV is so far out in front of the movies in giving roles to actors of color (not just black).
Lastly, anything like this #Oscarsowhite or boycott talk would sound a lot better from someone other than Will Smith (who might have been “snubbed” this year) or Spike Lee (who has been routinely snubbed in the past. It sounds like sour grapes. When Will Smith was the biggest actor in the world (which he was at one point) had he been making less money than his movie star white male counter parts, that would be a legitimate issue on equality…this is an award show…
Ok rant went too long, sorry about that
More white people have won BET awards than there have been PoC nominees at the Oscars in the last 2 years. BET Awards were created as a black space because every award show awards white mediocrity. LOGOtv (a queer channel) has the same thing too with the NewNowNext Awards. Literally the Oscars, GRAMMYs, etc. are the real-life WET awards.
Are you in their minds when they are voting? what do you know? It is a complex and subjective experience and all 6300 members find consensus, that’s how they get the nominees. If there were as many quality films with black, asians, and latinos as white people and the Oscars decide to only nominate the white people stuff, that’s racism. If the Academy wouldn’t have nominated Mo’nique, Lupita Nyongo and all those black actors who’ve won before and would’ve gave their spot to a white person that’s racism because those black actors gave the best performance and had tremendous momentum in the years they won.
I think that proportionally and accordingly with the diversity shown in the eligible films the Academy is fairly inclusive, some years the Academy shows it is more inclusive and modern than the industry it represents and celebrates.
I just keep thinking about that old saying ‘you can lead a horse to water, but can’t make him drink!’. Whilst i think this discussion is great, especially as it has been expanded upon in the past week and some very cogent arguments have been put; assigning just as much, if not more responsibility back on the industry that makes the current slate of movies in diversifying people of colour and race in storytelling. This response from the AMPAS member is probably going to be representative of many in the Academy. They won’t appreciate the discourse nor the pressure. But that’s not a reason to stop rattling the cage and raising more awareness. But it sounds like watching some movies for voters is akin to being told to eat their brussell sprouts; they will just ignore them; push them aside and act as if they aren’t there!
So is the Oscars then.
Are you Stacey Dash?
BET actually is inclusive. Eminem and Sam Smith have won BET awards.
Of course it should always be about the quality of the work.. The problem is: IT IS NOT. There are plenty of performances by non caucasian worth of recognition that are simply overlooked to favour ‘white ones’ that are not so bad and people like you quickly jump to say they are really the best. Reality is they are looked through a very different glass and have fewer chances to even be noticed. And that is just the beginning, imagine if there were many more roles available to other than Caucasians.
The Academy is definitely more inclusive than the BET awards and the Image award. How many black actors have won Oscars? in the supporting category you can name many, especially in supporting actress: Mo’nique, Jennifer Hudson, Whoopi Goldeberg, Lupita Nyongo, and others. In the leading actor category; Forest Whitaker, Jamie Foxx, Denzel Washington and others. They even gave Hatte Macdaniels an Oscar back when blacks were fighting to end segregation. The Academy has also acknowledge hispanics like: Benicio del Toro, Demian Bichir, Adrian Barraza, Catalina Sandino Moreno, as well as many asians too. Now, how many BET Awards and Image awards have been awarded to white people, latinos, and asians? We love to judge but we fail to recognize that we also might suffer from the same problem. If you want to be included, set the example first and then complain.
Two very talented artists.
I think he is right. It should be about the quality of the work, not the color of their skin. When there’s 3 black films in contention out of 30 white films, it is extremely hard to notice those black films without a lot of momentum. This takes me back to the same point I’ve been trying to make, it is an industry problem not an Academy problem. Black actors love to complain but why isn’t BET or the image award more inclusive of white, latino, and asian actors?
Or Jennifer Aniston, or Beyonce… *sigh*
Here we go again. The cowardly, unapologetic, and feeble minded Oscar voters. Yep, thanks a lot for making it easier to send AMPAS quickly into its grave. Simply fucking, fucking, FUCKING cowards. I’m sick and tired of their cowardly bullshit! To them I say…
Exactly what we hear every year. I at least can understand how they may feel like they are being ganged up on. Scott Feinberg always lets us in on these anonymous voters.
I also remember some people saying that they voted for 12 years, but they didn’t see it, so there are many problems.
I think it was written earlier on this site, and its true. If you look at the makeup of the voters, Straight Outta Compton and Creed may not look like the type of film they would want to watch from the previews. I think many voters just didn’t want to put those screeners in, when they had Trumbo, Big Short, Spotlight, etc. films that they may feel like speak their language.
However, how did Precious do so well? Marketing. As A minority I have to admit that the young brothers, especially Jason Mitchell, whom I believe gave one of the best performances of the year, may not have the marketing and publicity power behind him to szmooze the voters, Michael B. Jordan and Mya Tayler may have had the same problem. That said, Benecio DelToro did the junket all fall and still didn’t get a nod. We have to admit that there are nothing things involved.
Every year, multiple voters say they voted for someone because they are friends with a nominee. Is that because they think its the best? No, we also see some honest voters say that they didn’t watch all the films. This behavior doesn’t help. People just need to check their hearts.
OMG, yes, the high standards that make Bob Saget an Academy member.