Discussion for article #232132
Since this is the first time in about 20 years that no black actor has been nominated in the major acting categories, people are now saying hollywood is racist. They apparently were not racist for the past 20 years and this year, because some people feel that a certain movie did not get enough nominations, hollywood is now racist?
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The Academyâs writers and executive branches are 98 percent white.
And as inbred as Beltway political familiesâŚ
Cable Tv will stoke a mini race war between âSelmaâ and âAmerican SniperââŚ
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No one has ever said that Hollywood was not racist. Never, never, never! And weâre not just talking about acting, but writing and directing as well.
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I donât think anyone is calling them racist as much as noting that Hollywood, like practically all entertainment media operations, has an institutional problem in that they lack a fair amount of diversity and representation. It reflects poorly on them as a bastion of presumed liberalism. Hollywood elites continually seem to loathe changing who they include among their ranks. A-listers are predominantly white and even white women past a certain age is a rarity. It also remains a predominantly white male club at the highest levels. So its no surprise that their decisions at Oscar time, when the Academy votes (which is also a bunch of white men), and when the world is really looking at them as a whole, reflects their insulated world view. Theyâve also found ways to ignore women directors and producers in their choices over much of its history. Iâm just surprised no Nazi themed movie was in their selection this year as it usually isâŚ
Its why the Oscars have slowly lost viewership over the years. I for one, only tune in right before the end of the show if Iâm still up, to see who won best picture. Its become extremely boring, and no matter who hosts they canât get rid of the stiffness of the presentation. Hollywood has been shooting themselves in the foot for years now by not endearing themselves to the public at large. Not only are movies overpriced, but they donât even acknowledge the wealth of talent out there thatâs been contributing to keeping them alive in spite of themselves.
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This reflects my thinking as well. Firstly, I find it amusing that anyone would look to Hollywood as a reflection of societal norms or diversity. Secondly, how is it a âsnubâ if the picture itself is given a best picture nomination?? After all, this was the same group of âguysâ who voted for 12 Years a Slave last year. Did they just âcome to their sensesâ and realize that theyâre actually racists and need to actively not nominate minority actors? Just bizarre.
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There were a lot of movies and people deserving in all categories. If one movie is nominated for best film, best director, best actor, best actress, best everything, then it means that it was a very weak year for movies. When itâs not a weak year, they spread the nominations around.
A more important topic would be whether people of color were fairly and proportionally represented in films. The answer to that is still no.
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No, more like they just all got back from a trip to âflyover countryâ and have learned âreal Amurrkaâ needs an escape from diversity ⌠maybe a new Hays Code for good measure 
Try Grand Budapest Hotel.
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Good point. Allusions to Nazi Germany abound in that film. ZZ instead of SS for the ZigZag Division.
I havenât seen Selma, but from what Iâve read it deserves the best picture nomination, and itâs tough to understand how it didnât earn Duvernay a best director nomination. Overall, it had major obstacles to any consideration - it came out too late, and Duvernay had to paraphrase King because of copyright issues. Thatâs tough. Making a film about the greatest orator in American history and having to paraphrase him.
As for the charges of historical accuracy - aka the truth - well, forget Jake, itâs Hollywood. Take American Sniper. How much truth is there in that, and yet itâs nominated for best picture.
There are so many similar examples from the past, including no Af Am Best Actors from Sidney Poitier to Denzel Washington, and in 1982 The Color Purple was nominated for 11 awards (not including Spielberg who was snubbed for other reasons) and won 0. So this problem is not new. That said, I heard some movie critics on the radio this afternoon who said Paramount never sent screener DVDâs of the film to film critics or academy voters around the country, so many did not even see the film in time to put it on year end âBest Of The Yearâ lists or vote for it for Oscars. If true, the filmmakers should be as angry at their own studio as they are at Hollywood bigotry.
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Maybe after the events of the past year theyâve become supporters of Malcolm X.
Years ago, I think it was in the early 2000âs, there wasnât a single new âBlack sit comâ and the hue and cry went up of racism. But one producer pointed out, that one of the reasonâs was, that when shows like âWhatâs happeningâ or âSanford and Sonâ came out, the complaint was that Hollywood was casting to stereotype. That they were portraying blacks as all ghetto dwellers and exaggerating certain unflattering characteristics. Then when the âThe Cosby Showâ came out, the complaint was that it was an unrealistic portrayal of the average African American family. That the Huxtables were the kind of black folks that werenât threatening to whites, and that actually they were acting TOO WHITE!
So at the end of the day, if you are a white producer you canât win. Produce a show with a ghetto setting, racism at work. Portray a middle class black family, racism at work. OK, why bother doing a black sit com if you are going to be called a racist, better not to do one at all. Guess what, you are a racist.
This comment is not meant to claim that there are no racial problems in the US, obviously we still have a long way to go. But not every single thing that they are not happy with can be attributed to racism.
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How do you nominate a film for Best Picture but none of the ingredients that make up that film â directing, acting, screenplay, cinematography, costumes, etc? Song is the only one? Come on give me a break.
The bigger question is, if you eliminate all these categories and you know the film will not win without this kind of support. You eliminate the possibility of a major black themed movie winning two years in a row. Canât have that.
With regards to the comments about all those nominations black folks have had for the last umpteenth years. Considering what Hollywood feels are significant achievements, I still do a side-eye. Sidney Poitier for Lilies of the Field? There were half a dozen more incredible performances for this actor than that one in that lame movie.
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It is a good think you donât need data or evidence to write for TPM else this would not have made it.
Let me point out how statistics work. There are five nominations. There arenât all that many Oscar-worthy films each year. Whenever there are small numbers involved, there are going to be statistical fluctuations.
For you to make a case like this in the way that youâre trying to make it, you need to look at data over a number of years. But if you do that, the case falls apart. The numbers just donât support you.
Iâm not completely unsympathetic to your basic point, but you really failed as a journalist in the most basic job of making a case. This was a really shoddy argument.
Is this white, Jewish, racism?
Talk about being racist the director advanced her position of distorting LBJâs role stating she didnât want another White Hero
The initial complaints that the Cosby characters were not âblack enoughâ came not from black people but mostly from the white media who interviewed Cosby and Phylicia Rashad endlessly about this, because they did not understand why blacks in a sitcom would not all talk like George Jefferson and crack jokes about race every 2 minutes.
The point she was making - and it is very legitimate - is that many black stories are hijacked by Hollywood and turned into the story of a white hero. Mississippi Burning is one great example, but there are many, many others. as a student of history I disagree with her portrayal of LBJâs role, but she was not being racist in saying that she did not want her story to remove the focus from the black heroes of the story.
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