Oscar Diversity Debate

[TimG]

I wouldn't go see a movie based on Oscar nominations. "Precious had 6 nominations! It's the story of an illiterate morbidly obese teen suffering abuse at the hands of her horrible mother!" Would I see that? No! It sounds utterly depressing.

Which is my point. Judging movies is extremely subjective it is extremely pretentious to claim that one group of people has a monopoly on it.

If black activists think that bringing attention to performances by black actors is important they can set up their own awards ceremony. People who care about such things will watch - those that don't will ignore them like they ignore the academy awards.

What does not make sense is replacing the academy voting system with a committee that chooses the awards like a PM chooses a cabinet (the logical outcome of any 'affirmative action' on the part of the academy). The voting system, for better or for worse, is part of the Oscar package.

[kimmy]

What does not make sense is replacing the academy voting system with a committee that chooses the awards like a PM chooses a cabinet (the logical outcome of any 'affirmative action' on the part of the academy). The voting system, for better or for worse, is part of the Oscar package.

According to the Wiki page,

the Academy is 94% white, 77% male, 86% age 50 or older, and has a median age of 62.

...from what I've gathered, they can all vote on as many or as few categories as they like, whether they have any particular expertise in that category or not, and don't have to have even watched the nominees.

Maybe, if they want to preserve the impression that their awards are based on merit, that could use some improvement. I think they'd like for people to believe that their awards are based on merit... ultimately this is an industry group, not a clique. The Oscars aren't just a vanity exercise for the old white dudes who run the awards... they're a useful promotional tool that makes a lot of money for the movie studios. Ultimately the Academy will want to do what it can to try to uphold the appearance of merit.

Of course, giving out "affirmative action" nominations and awards would counteract that goal. (as do many other factors... for example giving awards based on the idea that a particular actor has been snubbed in the past, or that a particular project would support Hollywood's image of itself as being in the fight for just causes...)

I think there's a growing amount of cynicism about the Academy Awards, and a growing feeling that they're not actually relevant to the kind of movies that most people enjoy.

-k

[TimG]

I think there's a growing amount of cynicism about the Academy Awards, and a growing feeling that they're not actually relevant to the kind of movies that most people enjoy.

The cynicism is nothing new. It stems from the fact that a movie with mediocre actors can be very enjoyable but a movie with good actors can be as interesting as watching paint dry. An awards ceremony that is about acknowledging the best in the craft would have favor the good acting over the merely entertaining. Edited January 24, 2016 by TimG

[kimmy]

An awards ceremony that is about acknowledging the best in the craft would have favor the good acting over the merely entertaining.

...but only in genres that interest the stodgy old snobs who vote on these things.

-k

[Hal 9000]

^^what difference does it make that the majority of Oscar voters are white, a movie is either good or not, what difference would it make if there were more black voters

[kimmy]

^^what difference does it make that the majority of Oscar voters are white, a movie is either good or not, what difference would it make if there were more black voters

Well, what is "good" is a pretty subjective matter. I've often suspected that some of the withered old fruits in the Academy would vote for an English period drama even if it was directed by Joel Schumacher and starred Rob Schneider. And as Argus pointed out earlier:

... the Academy is mostly made up of old white guys who are unlikely to ever see a movie like Straight out of Compton, even if the performances were the best in history, so would never vote for them.

...if you only listened to classical music, would you have any business voting on awards that consider other genres of music?

At any rate, it looks like the voting eligibility rules are being updated. They plan to end lifetime voting privileges for Academy members. If you haven't done anything in the industry in the past 10 years, you get changed from a "Member" to a "Member Emeritus", which will be a non-voting membership. That should get rid of a lot of tired old fossils, and could tip the scales more in favor of movies that are more relevant to normal people.

-k

[Hal 9000]

If anything, the academy voters are far to left leaning and seem to vote by political agenda of the day. Special needs have a period of wins, you have the gay friendly movies, Michael Moore and al gore "documentaries", when blacks should win , they do, (and yes, I like Denzel). First woman director...and so on.

The academy tries more often to sway left wing agenda then it does discriminate. Of all the movies, how many have black leads, how many were deserving. If there were no black nominees, maybe there just weren't any good performances.

How would changing the voters give us better black actors?

[Moonlight Graham]

Personally I can't waste 4 hours of my life watching an awards show, but check the list afterward to see if any movies or actors I like won awards. I wouldn't go see a movie based on Oscar nominations. "Precious had 6 nominations! It's the story of an illiterate morbidly obese teen suffering abuse at the hands of her horrible mother!" Would I see that? No! It sounds utterly depressing. Why would I see that, no matter how many Oscar nominations it gets?

Precious was easily one of the most depressing movie I've ever seen.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Moonlight Graham

[overthere]

Precious was easily one of the most depressing movie I've ever seen.

I'd rank Avatar and Titanic above 'Precious'.

Oh sorry.

I misread 'the 'depressing ' category.as "Best gigantic turd that made boatloads of money, which is really depressing" category.

The Oscars are give out of fear and guilt by people with a lot or reasons to reward themselves and their friends, while ignoring the unknown and qworthy. Soemtimes, rarely, those worlds collide.

That is why shriekingly boring movies like 'Carol' , for example, will get a big financial boost from their buddies just for the nomination. You vote for me and I'll vote for you. Like that.