Oscars So White

This year’s Oscars were the whitest Oscars since 1998. There was some uproar after the nominees were announced. That day, the twitter hashtag #OscarsSoWhite started trending, with 95,000 tweets per hour. It was obvious that many people weren’t happy about it.

Last year, 43 million people watched the Academy Awards. This years ceremony reached more than 200 countries around the world. It’s supposed to be a celebration of filmmaking. Regardless of how unintentional, it puts the message across that certain voices matter more than others. So who’s in the academy? White people. The Academy is 94% white, 76% male, and the average member age is over 60.

It would be safe to say that everything about the Oscars is white. Since the first Academy Awards were held in 1929, just 7% of winners in the Best Actor category have been black men. Halle Berry won it in 2002, making her the first, and currently the only, black woman to win the Best Actress award. That same year, Denzel Washington received the Best Actor award. Before him, the only other black actor to have won it was Sidney Poitier, 39 years earlier.

Not only are most of the awards given to white males, most of the nominations for awards are for films centered on white male protagonists. The Academy has overwhelmingly awarded the Oscars to white male-centric films in its 87-year history. So you could argue that the oscars are white and male. It’s an issue that african americans aren’t represented, but it’s also an issue that almost every other race, and women, aren’t equally represented.

The host of the 87th Oscars, Neil Patrick Harris, opened the night with a cringe-worthy joke. “Tonight we honor Hollywood’s best and whitest — sorry, brightest,” Harris said. However, the lack of diversity in the Oscar’s is no laughing matter. Instead of using the diversity issue as a source of humor, it should be seen as a serious issue. The Academy Awards reaches many viewers, and they have the ability to influence people around the globe. This awards show had the opportunity to address diversity and face it head on with a positive, and forthcoming attitude, and they failed to do so.