Racial Representation In The Oscar Awards

This is the second straight year in which not a single person of color was nominated for an acting Oscar. Jada Pinkett took it upon herself to bring people’s attention to the lack of diversity in the Oscars and in Hollywood, in a video posted on her face book page. Diversity can be defined as the inclusion of different types of people, race, or cultures in a group or organization. United States of America is a country full of different diverse group of people, races (Black white), culture, and religion. An organization’s success and competitiveness depends upon its ability to embrace diversity and realize the benefits. For example, if workplace diversity issues are handled well in an organization, benefits are reported. Also, according to a broadcast on NPR, Mcevers says, “Right, I mean, one of the findings of your Hollywood diversity reports at UCLA is that movies with more diverse cast tend to make more

There are many things I want to learn and get to the bottom of while researching this topic. My main question is, “Why is this happening?” Honestly, I cannot even believe this topic is actually still an issue. When thinking of movie directors, producers, etc. I would assume them to be a group of progressive and inclusive people because the artist community generally is. So, how have these people let this happen? I would also like to look in to how this misrepresentation affects the minorities of America. There could possibly be underlying psychological turmoil in minorities which causes them to feel less capable. This brings me to wonder if there is any underlying racial bias in everyone because of who is glorified in in movies and shows. In order to answer such questions, I will research to find if any psychologist have done any studies on the effects of television and film on our subconscious in terms of the representation of minorities. I am also curious how other diverse countries such as Canada’s television and film look. I will compare the United States to these diverse counties in my research in order to provide a more global view.

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

The University of Southern California discovered that filmmakers have made little progress in casting more non-white characters. Even though the United States is becoming more diverse in culture Hollywood has not change from its roots. From (Sanathanam and Crigger, 2015) research the top 100 films in 2014 up to 75% of the characters were Caucasian. 17 of the top movies in 2014 featured non-white lead or co-lead actors (Out of 30,000 Hollywood film characters, here’s how many weren’t white section, para 1). Informs that Hollywood is not in a rush to change their ways to avoid diversity for Caucasians to share the fame with other ethnic groups. Hollywood is mindset is to keep Caucasians superior.

You don’t sit down and write a story and say, “I’m going to write a story that involves four black people, three Jews, and a dog,”—right? That’s not how stories get written. If you don’t understand that, you don’t understand anything about how stories get written.

In the 2017 media article “How Fair is Hollywood” the main problem is the lack of inclusion that Hollywood has been using throughout their movies . This problem can be solved by having an actor play the role of the corresponding race of his/her character.As noted by Media Mix news in paragraph 1, the author explicitly describes “People have reported frustration with Hollywood’s casting process. That’s because they see non-white actors repeatedly kept out of the spotlight. There is also the phenomenon called “whitewashing,” when roles are written for minorities are given to white actors”. This indicates that people are being displeased by the fact that Hollywood has been doing negative things to put actors to play a  different race from what

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.

There has been many controversies about the lack of diversity in Hollywood and one of the most recent one was the 2016 Oscars. The Oscars is an award show that showcase the best people in front and behind the camera. Unfortunately there was barely any diversity in the nominations this year since most nominators were white, even though there was many diverse films that were considered Oscar worthy. With that being said,people protested that there needs to be more diversity in these categories and some actors agreeing by using the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite in social media. To make things worse, the Academy Awards members are majority older white males which brought to the attention from the protesters that in order to have diversity into the awards, the members itself needs to represent of all races so, it can be considered a fair choice. Which make sense to why throughout history of the Oscars there was always a discrepancy of diversity in the nominations since 1929 because only a very small percentage of minorities actors have received an award compared to the white actors that dominated the Oscars with a high percentage of winners. This created tension in Hollywood that the Oscars are marginalizing itself as a all white program and that there needs to be changes.

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

Over the years we have seen the same white story told a thousand times that we have become desensitized to it, never expecting anything else. America was a European-White country but it has become one of the most diverse countries in the world, so American isn’t just white anymore. We are at a place in our society where we can and should be talking about race and one of the best ways to do this is through film, but there has been little to no change over the past decades. Films tend to lean toward white backdrops because it is more “relatable”; Noah the 2012 film used an all white cast because they were considered

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

Having a white actors cast in roles based on skin color is an interesting topic and occasionally a touchy topic. Kennell mentions using white actors in movies such as “Aloha”, “Gods of Egypt” and “Pan,” all movies that are terrible movies. These movies are not terrible due to the choice in actors but due to the scripts, production, direction and almost every aspect. Personally if I were Kennell I would just be glad that these terrible movies did not drown the careers of lesser known actors of color. The actors that are in these movies are “big name” actors that will draw in a crowd to see a terrible movie even though the movie itself is terrible. Hollywoods constant stream of B or C grade movies needs to end. Acting roles in top tier

Some examples that prove the article include the academy awards. The 2015 award show revived major backlash for clearly lacking diversity. #Oscarssowhite trended on twitter, many public figures and members of the film industry spoke out and did not attend and promised to boycott the award show until there was change. The following year tied with the 2007 award show, for being the most diverse. That outrage and the way people across the United States spoke up, made that change and altered an industry that they felt they were discriminated in. An example that refutes aspects of the article would be shows like insecure. Although, I haven’t watched too much of the show, I know from what I’ve seen that the way blackness is portrayed on the show

“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