Photo by tommao wang on Unsplash
By Harry Peterson
On Sunday, March 15th, the 98th Academy Awards are set to take place at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. The Academy Awards have long been the place that is supposed to recognize and honor the highest level of film. However, the ceremony has also consistently reflected the film industry’s substandard record on race and inclusion.
Since the first Oscars’ ceremony in 1929 white men have received significantly more recognition for their works compared to others in the space. Only 6% of the total nominees have been from underrepresented racial groups and only 18% of the total nominees have been women.
Progress has come very slowly throughout the history of the academy, whilst the first person of color to win an Oscar was Hattie McDaniel’s as best supporting actress in Gone with the Wind, there was only eight people of color to win an acting award from 1940 till 1963. Following that there was not another until Sir Ben Kingsley became the first Arab man to win an acting award.
In 2015, there was a massive Twitter campaign under the hashtag #oscarssowhite which started to highlight how there were zero people of color nominated across the four acting categories. The pushback from this led the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to diversify its voting membership.
Following the diversification and the changes to which movies are eligible to be nominated there have been more nominees for people of color. In 13 out of 19 categories examined at inclusion.org they discovered that there has been a notably more people of color nominated. Compared to the eight years before 2015 and nine of the years since there was a 7.5% increase in nominations of people of color.
Dr. Stacy L Smith at the University of Southern California and Annenberg Inclusion Initiative told BBC, “I think that there’s cause for optimism, and some good news, which we don’t often have when it comes to the entertainment industry.”
These effects are especially prevalent this year at Ryan Coogler’s film Sinners became the most nominated film ever with 16 nominations. The film, which stars Michael B. Jordan, is written and directed by a black man and tells a story with many roots tied to Black history and culture.
It also received many of its nominations in many of categories that get the most attention, such as Best Picture, Best Actor in both leading and supporting roles, Best Actress in a supporting role, Best Original Screenplay and Best Director.
For many critics, this particular film represents a growing willingness from Hollywood and the Academy to recognize films that for much of the Academy’s history would not have been recognized. Though others have questioned whether this change represents actual change or if it is just a reaction to years of criticism about diversity at the Oscars.
As Hollywood continues to evolve, the Oscars remain in both a mirror and a battleground as they reflect the industry’s achievements while exposing the work that still lies ahead.
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