In 1939, Hattie McDaniel played the role of a house-servant named Mammy in the American Classic "Gone with the Wind," for which the actress received an Oscar. This is one of the few times an African American received an Oscar.Thirty years after the first black woman recieved an Oscar in Gone With The Wind, there came Sidney Poitier, a black male.The last time African Americans received awards for a mostly African-American cast was "12 Years A Slave" in 2013. Movies such as "Precious" are praised mainly for portraying the struggles of an abused and illiterate African-American girl in an urban American city. It is interesting that African Americans receive awards primarily for playing roles related to people struggling with institutional racism and low social class. Although these roles are important, why are African Americans only commended for playing such roles? It is interesting that for movies portraying happy people in black communities, such as "Do The Right Thing," there's a lack of Oscar awards handed out. Why do people of color receive awards only for portraying the archetype? Why are awards only given to people of color when their race is the subject of the story? And why isn't integration and the winning of prestigious awards normalized for people of color?

Here's the diversity and integration that Hollywood claims to have:

Not only are black people victim to portraying archetype roles, but so are other groups of people, such as Latinos/Hispanics and Muslim people of color. Jennifer Lopez is known for her roles as "the housemaid" or "the seductress" in films such as "Maid in Manhattan" and "U Turn." The stereotype of being in household occupations or working in agricultural fields or "drug-related fields" are those that are attached to the image of Latinos and Hispanics. These women are also constantly hyper-sexualized. This is while Eastern Muslims are portrayed as terrorists or dictators in films such as "The Dictator" and "The War Within," in which the main character plays a terrorist. It is very rare to find Latino/Hispanic and Muslim people of color in Hollywood films, who have common occupations such as those of bank tellers, doctors and teachers.

People of Asian descent (South Asian and East Asian in particular) are also stereotypically portrayed as "geeky" or "nerdy." This is while people of mixed race or several other identities are rarely portrayed at all.

When it comes to powerful roles such as the prince from "Prince of Persia" it is mainly white American people who play these roles rather than Eastern Mediterraneans or Asians. Even in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" the role of Japanese landlord Mr.Yunioshi is played by white actor, Mickey Rooney. This is what many would consider cultural appropriation.

Not only are people of color misrepresented as one dimensional, and excluded from Hollywood productions, but Hollywood also lacks integration, for example in its lack of portrayal of interracial couples. In the film "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" Matthew McConaughey dates or shows affection for women of several ethnic backgrounds including Afro-Cuban model Christina Milian. Yet at the end of the movie, as expected, he shows a preference for Jennifer Garner. This illustrates the idea that people of color can only be displayed as the "committed lovers" of other people of color or white people under certain circumstances -- such as in films specifically portraying political environments, i.e. "Monster's Ball," "Mississippi Masala," and "The Other End of the Line" (a movie, if closely looked at, is about an Indian woman's immigration and assimilation into American culture). When will interracial couples be normalized, and when will we stop stereotyping and differentiating individuals from one another, based on their race? Hollywood needs to realize that interracial couples do exist in the present day. All people of color in America are Americans, and that is how they should be portrayed and admired first and foremost.

There are a plethora of people of color who are capable of playing roles of people of color. Hollywood fails to recognize people of color when it comes to incorporating them into films made about everyday Americans. Hollywood is an industry lacking racial integration and forgetting to understand that some human struggles are universal for both white people and people of color, which are actually quite easy to display on camera if only attempted. Although Hollywood is becoming more diversified, it has a long way to go.