Yes, We Should Rally for Diversity at the Oscars

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You know, I contemplated not even addressing diversity and the Oscars past the brief thing I wrote on my Oscar analysis. But after a few days of seeing foolery going around the web, a rant has built up in my chest that I need to let go.

What I find so funny about the conversation surrounding the Oscars and diversity is that I’ve heard so many people tell me that we shouldn’t direct our ire at the Academy because “they can’t nominate what’s not there.” Year after year, I hear this and well, what is your excuse now? This year was a pretty significant given that there were some big films and performances in contention. For the purpose of this article I’ll look specifically at the case of Straight Outta Compton, because I saw someone on Twitter say that Straight Outta Compton “wasn’t really” in the Oscar conversation, which was ridiculous. Looking at the resume of this film. Straight Outta Compton received a SAG Ensemble nom, WGA Nomination, PGA nomination, AFI top 10 selection, National Board of Review Top 10 Selection, and made $200 million+ at the box office. What about the above tally screams not an Oscar film? The only big guild this film missed at was the DGA. Straight Outta Compton also ticks so many boxes off of what the Academy tends to like (musical, biopic, epic, social issues, well regarded studio director) the only difference is it’s about a group of black men.

Now we can sit here and debate whether a studio “doing more” could land a movie a nomination (like with Selma last year) but to say a movie like this isn’t in contention is preposterous. Django Unchained didn’t do poorly in The bar for getting a nomination can’t be oh you have to be present and get these major noms before hand and then transition to oh thems the breaks after. This just reeks of continually asking movies starring POC or performances from POC to be twice as good to not even get half as much. As excited as I am that the writers of the film managed a nomination since I just interviewed them, it is weird that a film with this much momentum should have made it in.

And furthermore, what exactly was Oscar baity about a guy falling in love with a computer, a comedy with wacky characters set in a hotel, a slavery western, or any other nominations that didn’t seem possible when the season started but became Best Picture nominees? Normally the knock on POC films is that they don’t make enough money and therefore aren’t of a quality to be considered. Well, Straight Outta Compton and Creed will have outgrossed 6 out of the 8 Best Picture nominees by the time all is said and done. People will be like “oh the movie came on late” but that doesn’t stop other films that star white people from coming on late and landing nominations. The Revenant just led the field with 12 nominations despite being one of the latest film releases of the nominees.

Looking at the acting side might be the most depressing thing, with 20/20 nominees being white, in a year with outstanding performances by people of color. I mean, Joe Reid gave you a damn list of non white nominees you could have picked and yet the Academy couldn’t be bothered. For what it’s worth, here’s a list of actors of color in movies that received Oscar nominations that could have been nominated.

Chiwetel Ejifor, The Martian
Edgar Ramirez, Joy
Michael B. Jordan, Creed
Samuel L Jackson, The Hateful Eight
Oscar Isaac, Ex Machina
Sonoya Mizuno, Ex Machina
Jason Mitchell, Straight Outta Compton
Tessa Thompson, Creed
Benicio Del Toro, Sicario

Of these, I’d say Jordan, Jackson, Isaac, and Del Toro had legitimate shots, with Mitchell being next in line. Nathaniel Rogers, whom I respect wrote a piece on his site that highlighted some interesting points, but still fell short in his analysis in my opinion. Particularly with regards to this:

In the anger around this issue each year people willfully disregard 1) the field of competitors, 2) the actual eligibility of the films they’ve seen, 3) the quality of the roles they have or haven’t seen, 4) the creative challenges faced and how well people conquered them, 5) whether or not the actor campaigned 6) whether or not the actor is famous and 7) whether or not lead actors were fraudulently campaigning in their supporting category making less room for them to have a reasonable shot at a nomination 8) the depth and size of the parts the actors played. None of those absolutely crucial elements seem to matter to people when they are politically riled up.

Using his criteria, I still don’t see how there were no acting nominees. Jackson, Jordan, and Del Toro are equally as famous as Vikander, Mara, Hardy, Fassbender, and McAdams and yet they didn’t net nominations. Oscar Isaac was just in the highest grossing movie in US history, you can’t throw a stone on the internet or TV an not hit some sort of piece on him, and he was in Ex Machina, a film that bodied Avengers and Jurassic World out of VFX, but he couldn’t land a nom/wasn’t in “serious contention”? Or Elba, who might be more famous than any nominee save for Jennifer Lawrence, Leonardo Dicaprio and Christian Bale, certainly should have been nominated, given that he had some significant precursor mentions. EVERYONE lamented how terrible Best Actor was, but we should sit idle and not drag the Academy for being too lazy to go their own way. They’ve done it before! They’ve corrected category fraud before, they’ve recognized movies from all seasons before, and yes they have nominated people of color before.

There’s this idea going around that the Oscars aren’t an institution that can be lobbied to be more diverse. Um, all they get is lobbied by campaigns for films. Nathaniel himself says that WB should have realized what they had with Creed, but if the Academy can’t be lobbied for diverse films, filmmakers, and performances, then why should what WB did or didn’t do matter? The critics blame the Academy despite the large number of critics groups that only consolidate around 3 films, the academy blames the studios and the studios blame the critics, Academy and audiences. It’s a vicious cycle of self fulfilling prophecies of why things won’t change.

I am TIRED of the excuses and the laziness. The Academy is a symptom of the industry as a whole and they deserve to be clocked for their incompetence. You are the fucking Academy and your responsibility is to pick the best movies of the year. Don’t sit here and bullshit us that you can’t find movies, how about you seek them out and campaign for those you think are worthy. Stop hiding behind Cheryl Boone Issacs and look past the parties, screeners, and stars, and really start considering the breadth of performance.

And to the industry, I’ont want to hear that movies with POC don’t sell, can’t be marketed worldwide, or won’t generate nominations. Diversity isn’t something that’s even that fucking hard, just be more willing to support good stories from people who aren’t white.

To end with some humor, check out this funny vid from Chesica Leigh with commentary from Sasha Stone.

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Terence Johnson

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