surely have something to mull over.
This year’s Oscars nomination instantly led to a furore, due to lack of nominations of movies featuring the black actors. The debate over diversity amongst 2016’s Oscar nominees has become Hollywood’s burning topic, which is being interpreted in several different ways. Each actor has come up with his own version, but one thing is clear that despite all the confirmation about America being one of the most open countries, the issue of skin colour continues to be a strong issue to divide people.
The undercurrent of blacks Vs white hasn’t really vanished from the society and this debate seems to be a clear cut example.
The world had different views on #Oscarssowhite debate which also hinted at racism in the Academy-one of the biggest institutions known for recognising genuine talent in the field of cinema.
April Reign creator of #Oscarsowhite emerged as the face to highlight Academy as the biggest platform to give more recognition to the minorities and women in its membership. The hashtag invited maximum response from people across the world either in support or against it.
A piece by Rod Lurie, member of Academy’s director’s branch pointed that the Academy is aiming to double the number of minorities and women in its membership by 2020.
“In order to immediately deal with this situation, I’d like to offer up a radical solution: Nominations should no longer be determined by the entire membership. Instead, every branch of the Academy should appoint a blue ribbon committee to select its nominees. The Academy president would appoint a ‘foreman’ for each of the committees. Each committee would consist of an equal distribution of members who have been in AMPAS for up to 10 years, up to 20 years, up to 30 years and then over that. All committee members would commit to seeing most of the eligible films every year,” wrote Lurie in his piece.
Though there are several views on diversity in Oscar discussion, but English actress Charlotte Rampling, who is running for an Oscar nomination at 69 for her movie ‘45 Years’ has been against the blacks.
Dubbing it as ‘anti-white racism’, Rampling suggested that people should not be classified while the nominations should be based on the performance. In a response to stars who have threatened to boycott the Oscars for being ‘biased’ towards the blacks, she categorically pointed at the existing racism.
“One can never really know but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list,” said Charlotte,
inviting criticism from all corners. Without mincing words, Charlotte spoke her heart at the French radio station. “Why classify people? We live in countries where everyone is more or less accepted. There are always issues like ‘he is less good looking’ or ‘he is too black’.”
Milton Justice, a member documentary branch of the Academy hinted at the unnecessary ‘pressure’ mounted by the black actors. Milton cited example of David Oyelowo, who wasn’t nominated last year for his portrayal of Dr Martin Luther King Jr in Selma.
“I am not in the actors’ branch, but I certainly didn’t think he was very good in the part. In fact, when I got home, I pulled up the ‘I have a dream’ speech on YouTube to show one of my young students how charismatic Dr King was, since it certainly didn’t come through in the film.”
The debate is not likely to die down anytime soon, as many actors who have threatened to boycott the Oscars night will definitely come up with statements which will keep this discussion hot until the Oscars awards are distributed.
All those who were under the impression that the west has wiped out the fine line demarcating the blacks and white
surely have something to mull over.
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