African Americans: The Role Of Racism In Hollywood

The United States has long been a country that has accepted that change is a necessity for prosperity and growth. However, each change within the nation's history was hard fought against those who resisted such change either through racism, bigotry, and blatant discrimination. African American cinema is enshrouded in history that depicts these themes of racism, struggle, and deprivation. Yet, this same cinema also shows scenes of hope, artistic spirit, intellectual greatness, and joy. Black actresses, actors, directors, producers, and writers have been fighting for recognition and respect since the great Paul Robeson. The civil rights movement of the 1950's and 60's was fueled by black cinema through films like A Raisin in the Sun.

Jada Pinkett Smith, the wife of Will Smith, an actor made a video that went viral calling on other Black actors and actresses to boycott the Oscars because she believes it lacks diversity. The ‘All white Oscars nominees’ with no Black actors or actresses was seen as racial bias to some African-Americans. They believe that Black actors and actresses have made tremendous contributions to the success of the movie industry, and need to be appreciated on their works just as the white actors and actresses.

Only 9 non-white actors have been nominated for an oscar in the last five years. The lack of diversity has been the same throughout its entire 88-year history. The problem happens behind the scenes, just as well as on screen. There are more than 450 members in the Academy’s executive branch. 96% of the voters are white, and 87% are men. The 2016 Oscar nominations revealed all 20 nominees for acting awards were white and films with black themes have been shut out of the best picture category. More than 350 whites have been nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress compared to just 21 blacks. Fewer than that have won an

Hollywood not only shows little to none diverse to race but also gender on screen and behind the scenes. When watching a movie to the end credits most the names that are shown are males. The diverse for gender in Hollywood is low. Females are not given the same opportunity as the males. Article from NPR STAFF (2015) informed that women make up half of the U.S. population but only 6% of the females directed theatrical films in 2013(Hollywood’s Homogeneity section, para.1). Even though the study is old the data has not change. Population in females in Hollywood in front and behind the scenes cannot be compared to the nation. Hollywood is own by males which are keeping positions for women to a minimum. The heads of Hollywood are not willing to be diverse so they can stay in control. Among the ranks of top Hollywood film executives, the

Trying to fix a diversity problem doesn’t have an instant solution. The Academy is facing this and dealing with the racial representation in the Oscar Awards as it has become a huge problem in Hollywood. Ira Deutchman, a member of the Academy, has stated “Like many Academy members, I was embarrassed and disappointed when this year’s Oscar nominees were announced, but I wasn't shocked. After all, no season passes without several scathing articles about the lack of diversity in Hollywood, both on the screen and in executive suites. On the other hand, when fingers were pointed at the membership of the Academy as the cause of the problem, I bristled at the implications”(Deutchman). As stated, the audience even including the Academy Members are baffled by the Oscar’s nominees. Racial representation is a huge problem in

For the last two years, the Oscars have come under fire in the last two years with their lack of nominations of people with color. The Oscars otherwise known as the Academy Awards is an award show to highlight and give praise to the best movies and short films of the year, including in this prestigious awards are the actors and actresses that star in these blockbusters and they are, as well as their movies praised on the highest level for their craft. However what has become under scrutiny is the so-called “White Wash” that has come across the ceremony.

G. Willow Wilson once said that “there's a burden of representation that comes into play when there aren't enough representatives of a certain group in popular culture.” The articles “Opinion: “Black Panther" gives me a personal reason to cheer for a new superhero” by Brandon T. Harden, “Opinion: "Black Panther" and the beauty and strength of black women” by Mary-Jean Nleya of Al Jazeera, and “'Black Panther' inspires more than African Americans” by Dean Obeidallah illustrate why movies such as “Black Panther” have impacted Hollywood and its viewers. Despite the fact that there are some people who do not attend the movie theater and may not care about renown movies such as “Black Panther” or “A Wrinkle In Time”, it is clear that these movies with diverse casts will impact and support accurate and inclusive representation in Hollywood.

It is not just about winning, or even being nominated, but representation. Clearly, the Latino, Asian, and Native American community do not have the representation they deserve in the media - the roles for other minorities are not there and there is ZERO reason for their absence. Would the Martian, a movie about a fictional space trip to mars, be any different with a Latino? Would the movie Room, another fictional movie based off a book, be any different with a Native American actress? There is no reason to be casting movies with white actors and actresses if it does not matter to the plot, and that is something Hollywood has yet to

Awards this year. In Eboo Patel’s article, “Making the Future Better, Together”, he claims that

By analyzing the statistics of movies and music produced by people of color, maybe one day people will learn that diversity is part of the change there needs to be in the world. The color of someone’s skin does not define their talent, or box office stats, and whitewashing shall one day be an affair of the past. Whitewashing has been entwined into the very fabric of the American film franchise. “Whitewashing describes the habit of casting white actors to play non white character often to shoehorn in star, sometimes out of racial insensitivity, invariably to the detriment of people and especially actors of color”, as told

The discussion of diversity in Hollywood is very important. Some people will claim that there is a diversity issue throughout Hollywood and a lack of representation for minorities, while others will argue that there is a wide spectrum of diversity, therefore destroying the idea that there is an issue. There are more shows and films that revolve around straight, healthy Caucasians than shows and films that revolve around LGBT members, people who have to live with disabilities, and people of color. Hollywood has suffered substantially from a lack of showing a great deal of diversity.

The article explores the difference between 2016 Oscar Awards, which was surrounded by controversy regarding the lack of diversity, and the 2017 show, which attempted to demonstrate diversity. According to the post, there were no actors of color nominated for the Oscars for the last two years, and the issue arose some debates in 2016. As a result, seven minority actors were nominated, six of which were black. Denzel Washington became the most nominated black actor after he received a nomination for his role in “Fences.” On the other hand, Viola Davis is the most nominated black actress for her supporting role in “Fences.” Similarly, Octavia Spencer landed a nominee for “Hidden Figures” while Naomie Harris landed one for “Moonlight.” Other actresses nominated from the

Historically, more white actors have won at TV award shows such as the Oscars. However, in recent years, this is changing. The era of all white TV is ending.

“Oscars So White” a phrase that began trending on social media sites after the 2016 Academy Awards announce their nominees for Best Actor and Best Actress, it was predominately white for a second year in a row. The movie industry is no stranger to controversy and since its inception it’s constantly been guilty of underrepresenting ethnic people. It’s evident that film is a type of mass media that has a certifiable amount of power to influence audience’s views, yet this platform constantly disregards the need for diversity in favor of stereotypes. Movies such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), Scarface (1983), and Pan (2015) are all guilty of this. The depiction of non-American characters in Hollywood movies are constructed around racial

The voting process for the Oscars does have several flaws. The Oscars actually has two types of voting systems. One process that is used is based on mathematical practice (i.e. probability) to determine how each will be selected. Then, there is another system where the votes are based on how you actually felt about the film. For example, the entire voting committee consists of about 6,000 members with various credentials in film. These groups are then broken down into smaller groups of 17 or more. In groups where mathematics isn’t “valued” each member is encouraged to vote based on the way they “felt” about a certain film. Instead of using a practical function. There is no right or wrong answers. There aren’t even scoring sheets, basically it is based on your hearts desires, which I find to be very flawed for the simple fact that someone may not like a certain film because either they cannot relate to the film or because it is not set to their “standards” . However, there was a study done in 2015 that proved that Oscars can nominations and winners can be determined based on mathematics. A Harvard student by the name of Ben Zauzmer created a algorithm based on different factors. The algorithm actually worked and he was able to predict 85% of the winners based on probability. How this works is that he gathers data points from the past 20 years, and compares them with the information from the current year to help give him a possible answer. I am partial to this study; yes I believe mathematics does play a role in the selection. However, I think we need to take a deep look at whom is one group from last year (2015-2016) consisted of 17 members. Of those 17 individuals only 4 were minority. Now for the purpose of this paper let’s assume that this group uses the second string voting system where it is emotional driven. Any film that does not appeal to a certain group of individuals then the film doesn’t have a fair chance to