THE OSCARS

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by Catalina Magee

The was no doubt to see The Revenant receive 12 nominations and especially Leonardo DiCaprio win an Oscar for the Actor in a Leading Role category.The movie Mad Max: Fury Road had 10 nominations. More from the Actor in a Leading Role category included a mix of talented stars, such as: Bryan Cranston, Trumbo, Matt Damon, The Martian, Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs and Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl. Actress in a Leading Role category is just as star-studded, with Cate Blanchett, Carol, Brie Larson, Room, Jennifer Lawrence, Joy, Charlotte Rampling, 45 Years and Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn. Close to the fashionable and fancy Oscars red carpet, there were also fabulous parties that our team attended.

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By Andrea Bell

With the biggest topic of conversation surrounding the Oscars in recent years having more to do with diversity (or lack thereof) than talent in the industry, it is somewhat of a question mark as to why the bigwigs in film are not addressing accusations of predominantly white culture within the Academy. Well, in actual fact, they are. And some argue that they have been for over fifty years now. However, as is the nature of such a slow moving industry, the process is... slow.

There are many opinions as to why the roster of “top talent” at the Oscars is repetitively male and white. Is it a matter of “like begets like”? In a manner of speaking, yes. Or partly. One of the biggest barriers to acknowledgement that the culturally diverse community faces is that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences is comprised of a membership that is solely entitled by the amount of experience one has within the industry. Often politics are blamed for the “same people” being nominated year after year after year, and regularly it takes numerous nominations for a nominee to actually take home that little gold statue. When the number of films you have been part of (and consequently the fewer movers and shakers you know) drop to a much smaller percentage, then yes, your chances of winning drop drastically. So is it a race thing? Yes. And no.

When you look at the hugely successful career of Will Smith, that has spanned decades and a plethora of titles, and who is only now entering the ring of the “accomplished”, it may be easier to see what the stretch is to gain recognition at that scale. And when you consider where Smith started, and how diverse the arena was then, you can see that the hurdles, while being jumped, are only being set out very sparingly. Because in an established community that adheres to rules and standards that essentially define an entire industry, it is not often that somebody wants to rock the boat.

The biggest difference in the cultural spectrum is that most African American, Native American, Latino, Indian and Asian American actors have had to either create their own roles, or be content with stereotyped roles that they fall into more easily. Or in the case of screenwriters et all, the overwhelming difficulty in finding a presumed audience (in the form of the yay or nay sayer that approves funding for a project) for their body of work. More than anything, the industry is known for playing it safe, and that means repetition. Conversely, when a risk is allowed to be taken, it is often those films that bypass the decades long route and fast track a member to a nomination, and often, a win.

The benefit of diversity is clearly seen in the Television Industry, that, while sharing similarities across the board, is actually run in a very different way than film. The biggest difference is speed. Television is not only consumed in shorter bytes, and filmed in a much shorter time frame, but it is almost entirely based on ratings that are credited in real time. A network will alter a program according to the most popular elements as they play out. It takes many years to make a movie. If you start at the very beginning of a project and follow the process, you often see a decade of work happening even before the filming begins. In this context it is maybe easier to see why change in the Academy is so sluggish and while we are seeing with shows like “Orange Is The New Black” or “Scandal” that diversity is, in fact, the key to success in a sea of seemingly endless choices on cable, the commitment and investment that a motion picture demands makes producers nervous.

So isn’t it up to the Academy then to ensure that measures are taken to open up the playing field? Yes, and they have recently done so in the formation of a plan labelled A2020, introduced by AMPAS president Cheryl Isaacs at November’s Governor’s Awards. The plan outlines programs that mandate top executives expand their hiring process. Again, this does not mean change overnight, but it does mean change. In the meantime, advocates and critics alike say that the process needs to start long before the Academy is even involved. In the school system, in other forms of media, and in our collective take on what our world actually looks like. As film is merely a form of entertainment that hinges on portrayal of our own world, whether real or imagined, then in the big picture, it is this recognition that needs to change. And in this sense, we are all catalysts.

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Photos by adina doria

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