The 25th edition of the Gotham Independent Film Awards kicked off awards season back in November 30, 2015. Since then, winners of People’s Choice Awards, National Society of Film Critics Awards, Critics Choice Awards and the Golden Globes have also been announced. We are still however waiting for several major awards shows including the world-renowned Academy Awards.
This year marks the 88th anniversary of the Oscars. The awards will be handed out on Feb. 28 at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, beginning at 7 p.m. With the reveal of the Oscars nominations on January 14, 2016, the world is already buzzing with excitement and it seems like everyone has their own theories regarding the outcomes.
Many questions are floating around as people wonder, is this finally Leonardo DiCaprio’s year? Can Mad Max break all the rules and drive off with Best Picture? Will Rooney Mara and Alicia Vikander’s “category fraud” hurt their chances? We have yet to see.
However, one question that many people had stemming from last year’s controversial Oscars where all 20 acting nominees were white, can be answered. Sadly, the Academy has not changed its ways and for the second year in a row, every single acting nominee is white. Furthermore, there is only one nonwhite nominee for best director (Alejandro G. Iñárritu), and no women.
Contenders like Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation), Michael B. Jordan (Creed), Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina), Benicio Del Toro (Sicario), Tessa Thompson (Creed), Jason Mitchell (Straight Outta Compton) and Will Smith (Concussion) have all been ignored. The movies Straight Outta Compton and Creed were also left off the list of Best Picture nominees.
Will Packer, one of the executive producers of Straight Outta Compton, believes that it is “a complete embarrassment” that those recognized are overwhelmingly white. Samantha Gavin (11) was surprised by the nominations as “the Oscars are meant to showcase talent and talent is not determined by race or gender.”
Last year, the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite blew up on Twitter and host Neil Patrick Harris even kicked off the awards show by welcoming Hollywood’s “best and whitest.” One would think all that controversy and firestorm of conversation around the lack of diversity, would result in changes being made to prevent this from occurring in the future, but this year’s nominations beg to differ.
Back in September, Oscars producer Reginald Hudlin was confronted about the diversity concerns and explained that in the end, the responsibility falls on the movie studios.
Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs also addressed the lack of diversity, noting that “the Academy has no power over Hollywood” and “has nothing to do with hiring.” According to Isaacs, all they can really do “is to get them [Hollywood] to widen their normal stream of thought.”
A 2012 estimate by the Los Angeles Times indicated that more than 90 percent of the Academy was Caucasian and 77% male with a median age of 62. And while the Oscars have been trying to broaden its voting pool by inviting younger, more diverse actors and filmmakers, this year’s nominations do not express these changes.
Isaacs recently announced a new initiative called A2020, a five-year plan to actively address diversity issues at the Oscars. Hopefully, we will see the effects of this plan soon and next year’s Oscars nominations will be much more diverse so that the ones receiving the Oscar will be truly be the best of the best.
Antonina (Tosia) L
