By Claire
I almost didn't want to write this post, because I feel like I am just constantly repeating myself, but if we don't get angry, how will The Academy learn?
Last night the 2016 Oscar nominations came out, and people can say all they want about "awards don't matter" or "the Oscars aren't relevant anymore", they really, really do, because it highlights and showcases what the industry deems "worthy" and "important."
Last year the Oscars received backlash for their blatant omission of people of colour and women in their nominations with the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. You think they would have learned by now, but if you can believe it, this year is worse!
Every actor nominated in either a lead or supporting role is white.
No women were nominated for Achievement in Direction, and none of the 8 films nominated for Best Motion Picture were directed by a woman (a drop from last year's Selma, directed by Ava DuVernay, which even then, was only nominated for two awards).
It has been six years since a woman was nominated for the direction category, which was Katheryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker.
This is all a major issue, as it actively demonstrates the systematic oppression of women and people of colour in the film industry. If women and people of colour aren't nominated, celebrated or acknowledge for their work in the industry, how can any women or people of colour know that they can direct, write, star in a movie, and be recognised for it?
And it's not like 2015 didn't have the talent. 2015 was an amazing year for women in film, but the Academy don't seem to recognise it.
I was talking to my latina friend, getting angry about the nominations. Like me, she is by no means surprised, but nonetheless disappointed in this years selection. As she pointed about, apart from the foreign films, Alejandro González Iñárritu is the only latino nominated, and no latina women are there at all, "I'm so TIRED of Latina women not being nominated for things because THEY'RE NOT IN THEM."
Which therein lies the importance of viability and representation, which The Oscars, arguably the most important awards for mainstream Motion Pictures, constantly denies.
People of colour aren't being nominated because they aren't being cast in any films, because they aren't being nominated and the cycle goes on. Or at least the films aren't being supported, because they are deemed "too risky" to take on. Which is stupid.
Women driven and diverse cast movies make money in the box office, and are successful (never mind beautifully made, impactful and a CRAFT). But The Academy ignore's this, and thus the industry ignores this.
You can read the whole nominations list here, and Congratulations to Room, Brooklyn and Mad Max: Fury Road for their Motion Picture nominations, and to the following female directed documentaries and foreign films nominated, which seems to be the only place we're seen:
“What Happened, Miss Simone?” by Liz Garbus for Best Documentary Feature.
“Chau, beyond the Lines” by Courtney Marsh, “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness” by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and “Last Day of Freedom” by Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman for Best Documentary - Short Subject.
“Mustang” France* by Deniz Gamze Ergüven for Best Foreign Film.
I almost didn't want to write this post, because I feel like I am just constantly repeating myself, but if we don't get angry, how will The Academy learn?
Last night the 2016 Oscar nominations came out, and people can say all they want about "awards don't matter" or "the Oscars aren't relevant anymore", they really, really do, because it highlights and showcases what the industry deems "worthy" and "important."
Last year the Oscars received backlash for their blatant omission of people of colour and women in their nominations with the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. You think they would have learned by now, but if you can believe it, this year is worse!
Every actor nominated in either a lead or supporting role is white.
No women were nominated for Achievement in Direction, and none of the 8 films nominated for Best Motion Picture were directed by a woman (a drop from last year's Selma, directed by Ava DuVernay, which even then, was only nominated for two awards).
It has been six years since a woman was nominated for the direction category, which was Katheryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker.
This is all a major issue, as it actively demonstrates the systematic oppression of women and people of colour in the film industry. If women and people of colour aren't nominated, celebrated or acknowledge for their work in the industry, how can any women or people of colour know that they can direct, write, star in a movie, and be recognised for it?
And it's not like 2015 didn't have the talent. 2015 was an amazing year for women in film, but the Academy don't seem to recognise it.
I was talking to my latina friend, getting angry about the nominations. Like me, she is by no means surprised, but nonetheless disappointed in this years selection. As she pointed about, apart from the foreign films, Alejandro González Iñárritu is the only latino nominated, and no latina women are there at all, "I'm so TIRED of Latina women not being nominated for things because THEY'RE NOT IN THEM."
Which therein lies the importance of viability and representation, which The Oscars, arguably the most important awards for mainstream Motion Pictures, constantly denies.
People of colour aren't being nominated because they aren't being cast in any films, because they aren't being nominated and the cycle goes on. Or at least the films aren't being supported, because they are deemed "too risky" to take on. Which is stupid.
Women driven and diverse cast movies make money in the box office, and are successful (never mind beautifully made, impactful and a CRAFT). But The Academy ignore's this, and thus the industry ignores this.
You can read the whole nominations list here, and Congratulations to Room, Brooklyn and Mad Max: Fury Road for their Motion Picture nominations, and to the following female directed documentaries and foreign films nominated, which seems to be the only place we're seen:
“What Happened, Miss Simone?” by Liz Garbus for Best Documentary Feature.
“Chau, beyond the Lines” by Courtney Marsh, “A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness” by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and “Last Day of Freedom” by Dee Hibbert-Jones and Nomi Talisman for Best Documentary - Short Subject.
“Mustang” France* by Deniz Gamze Ergüven for Best Foreign Film.
I am so rooting for you.
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