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I have so many friends and colleagues who work in or with the entertainment industry, so I felt that I needed to provide a response to #OscarsSoWhite and the direction we should be going in as supporters of equality. The Academy has its faults, but should not be the focus of our attention or our cause. #OscarsSoWhite is an attack on a symptom rather than the disease. Of course the Oscars are extremely white, again, because the film industry is still extremely white.
A small percentage of films have people of color as leading characters. Of the hundreds of films released in theaters every year, some may content that only about half of them are even Oscar quality. Whittle that down further and start looking for Oscar quality films that feature POC actors. How many do you think there are?
Multiple films are released in theaters every week in the US. For each one of those films, there is an announcement when the script is optioned and another announcement when the cast is selected. More than 90 percent of the time, those films will be directed by a man, and an overwhelming majority of those men will be white. In comparison, quantity of leading roles going to white actors isn’t far off.
Additionally, of the POC leads in films, only about 12 percent of them are being represented by the top three agencies. This is very convenient because studio heads (who, by the way, are 96 percent white and overwhelmingly male) say their films are so whitewashed because agencies don’t provide a diversified roster. Agencies say their rosters are primarily white because it’s what the studios are demanding. Action: Hold talent agencies accountable for not signing diverse talent.
Why are we complaining about diversity in film on the day Oscar nods are announced? This is quite honestly like showing up to a party a year after it ended and expecting a slice of cake. There is ample opportunity to make noise about this throughout the year. Subscribe to The Hollywood Reporter,Deadline Hollywood and Variety – keep an eye out for casting announcements because they are literally in every issue, every week. Read about them then take to Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to write and record your thoughts. Studios don’t care and aren’t losing sleep because the world thinks the Oscars are “so white” again. Each of these studios has made its money and received its nomination – the two ultimate goals. They are not going to be retroactively apologetic or ashamed.
Remember when Black Twitter possibly maybe contributed to Zendaya leaving the Aaliyah biopic? It was amazing, a perfect demonstration of powerful voices influencing the entertainment meant for our consumption. Imagine doing that every time a PR agency sends out a release to announce the cast of a feature film. Lambaste the directors for their choices; go after the studios and the execs.
Furthermore, we need to demand that news media report on these issues throughout the year and not just during awards season. Why won’t The Hollywood Reporter, IndieWire, Deadline and Variety hire diversity contributors who report on the ongoing lack of diversity in film? It’s certainly a beat that would provide plenty of organic content. They haven’t and they probably won’t, yet they’re eating up this Oscar nomination story right along with other mainstream news outlets. The lack of representation in Hollywood should not be treated as a newsworthy event that occurs annually, it is an ongoing problem that needs to be addressed openly and frequently.
While the Academy does deserve some heat for its misses (Tangerine, Creed, Concussion, to name a few), this passion and anger is pointed at the wrong people and at the wrong time. Because #OscarsSoWhite isn’t just about the Oscars, the Oscars are white because #FilmIsSoWhite. You can use that hashtag every day of the damn week, not just once a year, sometime in January.
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