Now that autumn has arrived, the Oscar season is officially ramping up. We’ve already seen contenders at Sundance, Cannes, Telluride, Venice, Deauville and Toronto, plus we’ve got the New York and London Film Festivals yet to come in the next two months. So, Oscar races are shaping up and most critics already have their short-lists for who will probably get nominated for all of the big awards. There’s some good news and some bad news. The good news? Worthy, talented and consistently underrated actors will probably be big contenders. People like Julianne Moore, Amy Adams, Benedict Cumberbatch, Eddie Redmayne, JK Simmons, Keira Knightley and Patricia Arquette are some of the wonderful early contenders.
The bad news? Well, look at that list. It’s pretty white. Vulture posted a story yesterday headlined: “Will This Be the Whitest Oscars in Almost 2 Decades?” They were analyzing predictions compiled by the Gold Derby – go here to see the data. In every acting category, the potential nominees are profoundly white. The only exception I see is that some people think the film Selma – starring David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King Jr. and produced by Brad Pitt – might get some heat. One other potential contender: Japanese singer/actor Miyavi, playing a villain in Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken. But that’s about it. A lot of critics thought Chadwick Boseman was amazing in Get On Up, but most doubt the performance will earn him an Oscar nomination.
So, does it matter? Of course it matters. Just weeks after Lupita Nyong’o won an Oscar for her first major film role, anonymous film producers were musing about whether her skin was too dark and whether anyone would buy her as a leading lady. And, as Vulture points out, most of the racially diverse Oscar nominees of the past few years are now doing television – think about Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer, Demian Bichir, Chiwetel Ejiofor, etc. There’s less drama about race in TV these days, and it’s easier for minority actors to get a safe, consistent and even professionally challenging gig in TV rather than hustle to play some racist trope in a Hollywood film.
I’m not planting a flag for tokenism, by the way. I’m not saying that every year, a certain number of minority actors needs to be nominated just because. I’m saying that Hollywood’s diversity problem is ridiculous and it will be a shame if only white actors are nominated this year. I mean, Channing Tatum is probably going to be nominated this year!! That’s what we’ve come to. Then again, Channing is a Potato-American. Diversity!
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Special thanks Cele Bitch
