THE ACADEMY STILL FAILS AT DIVERSITY, BECAUSE IT DOESN’T UNDERSTAND THE SCOPE OF DIVERSITY
It was a pleasure this morning to wake up to the news that Rachel Morrison became the first woman in the entire 90 year history of the awards to be nominated for an Oscar in cinematography, for her work on Mudbound. Well, it was both exciting and pathetic.
In general this year showed some baby steps towards progress. Huge congrats to Greta Gerwig and Jordan Peele, who respectively became the fifth female and Black directors ever to be nominated for Best Director. Their films also got nods for Best Picture, which was a pleasant surprise, though less progressive since the rules changed back in 2009 to allow for up to 10 Best Picture nominees.
Other exciting notable nominations were Dee Rees for Mudbound, making her only the second Black female to be nominated in a writing category (and the first for adapted). There were a considerable number of Black nominees in the acting categories, including Daniel Kaluuya, Mary J. Blige (who also got a nomination for Best Original Song), Octavia Spencer, and Denzel Washington. I have to protest the Denzel nom, Roman J. Israel, Esq was quite frankly not a good movie.
Other exciting notable nominations were Dee Rees for Mudbound, making her only the second Black female to be nominated in a writing category (and the first for adapted). There were a considerable number of Black nominees in the acting categories, including Daniel Kaluuya, Mary J. Blige (who also got a nomination for Best Original Song), Octavia Spencer, and Denzel Washington. I have to protest the Denzel nom, Roman J. Israel, Esq was quite frankly not a good movie.
Mary J. Blige and director Dee Rees for Mudbound – Netflix
Also, If we’re going down the list of nominees, we’ve also got Kobe Bryant (yes, that Kobe Bryant) who teamed up with animation legend Glen Keane, and is nominated in the Animated Short Film category for Dear Basketball.
So why did the nominations still leave a bad taste in my mouth? Because apparently diversity seems to only mean women and Black artists. Don’t get me wrong, I am beyond pleased that at least it wasn’t a sea of white male nominees this year, but what about Asians and Latinos? Yes Guillermo del Toro’s film The Shape of Water leads in nominations overall, with an almost record breaking 13. And yes, del Toro (of Mexico) himself got a directing nod. Coco also received a nomination, but due to the nomination rules, co-director Adrian Molina technically wouldn’t have a trophy with his name on it if they win.
So why did the nominations still leave a bad taste in my mouth? Because apparently diversity seems to only mean women and Black artists. Don’t get me wrong, I am beyond pleased that at least it wasn’t a sea of white male nominees this year, but what about Asians and Latinos? Yes Guillermo del Toro’s film The Shape of Water leads in nominations overall, with an almost record breaking 13. And yes, del Toro (of Mexico) himself got a directing nod. Coco also received a nomination, but due to the nomination rules, co-director Adrian Molina technically wouldn’t have a trophy with his name on it if they win.
Michael, Shannon, Sally Hawkins and Director/Writer/Producer Guillermo del Toro on the set of THE SHAPE OF WATER. – Photo by Kerry Hayes. © 2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved
In the Asian arena, I suppose shout out to producer Ramsey Naito and makeup artist Kazuhiro Tsuji for holding down the fort for Asians behind the scenes. Alas, the only notable onscreen performance this year from an Asian actor/actress in an Oscar contending movie was Hong Chau in Downsizing. I thought Downsizing was a piece of garbage, but her performance was certainly the highlight. I don’t think she should be nominated just because she’s Asian and was good in a bad film. However it feeds back to the major issue at hand, there aren’t enough roles/jobs for the OTHER minorities.
The Academy shouldn’t pat itself on the back for the modicum of an increase in the diversity of nominees this year. Instead it, as well as it’s voting members, who are in fact in the industry that creates the problem, should be doubling down on efforts to support films that employ and cast diverse (which is not limited to just women or Black) talent. Let’s not go another 90 years before the next major breakthrough.