Throughout the history of the Oscars, the common narrative of minority actors being left out, snubbed, or unrepresented at the Academy has raised many questions of the legitimacy and fairness of the awarding process. The academy committee is composed of 6,000 voting members chosen by the criteria of merit. To be a member, one must be a writer, director, or a producer with a least two screen credits or an actor/actress in at least 3 films.
This is problematic because non-minority male filmmakers and actors have a higher propensity to fund a movie with a more favorable cast or have better approval from the public. This in turn makes them more likely to be chosen as a member of the committee.
According to Washington Post, 35% of Asian American directors throughout the history of the academy have made more than one film compared to 43.1% non-asian directors. This is also similar for African American directors, in which only 29% have made more than one film while 43.5% of non-black directors have made more than one film.
Underrepresentation also impacts many women in the film industry. Out of 665 individual directors since the first Oscars, 43 have been women with only seven of them being women of color.
What’s even more alarming is the rate at which female characters are sexually objectified. Based on the Top 100 films of 2016, 25.6% of female actors displayed nudity in films while only 9.2% of male actors were shown nude. This just shows how cinema is designed to entertain primarily straight men in our society.
Despite the alleged unfairness in the institution, The 90th Annual Academy awards proved to be a huge win for underrepresented populations of people in the film industry. By the end of the night, Jordan Peele became the first African American director to win the “Best Original Screenplay” for his movie “Get Out”. He also was nominated for “Best Picture” which was awarded to Mexican director Guillermo Del Toro for the film “The Shape of Water”.
For “Best Foreign Language film”, the award was given to Director Sebastian Lelio giving Chile it’s first Oscar victory for the movie, “A Fantastic Woman”. The feat also marked the first time a transgender person (Daniella Vega) presented at the oscars, in which she spoke of the importance of the film for the LGBTQ community.
Kobe Bryant, a recently retired NBA legend, took home the “Best Short Film” for his film “Dear Basketball” making him the only NBA player to win an Oscar.
During Frances McDormand’s acceptance speech for Best Actress for the movie, “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri”, McDormand called for all female film affiliates to stand in honor of their success and contribution to the Academy. She also shined a light on the topic of “Inclusion Riders” calling for A-list actors to include in their film contracts that films cast and crew must be a reflection of gender and ethnic diversity.
While there are still undeniable advantages for white male actors and directors, the 90th Oscars showed signs of progression in the cinematic industry. This is prevalent in the higher frequency, which diverse films are making it to theatres. There’s still more work to be done to accurately portray the level of acclaim for underrepresented groups of people in films, but with time comes progress, and I think the Academy is headed in the right direction.
