Academy faces ‘too white’ charge

Published January 18, 2015
Los Angeles: Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, poses for a portrait in Los Angeles. The film academy has been under fire for the lack of diversity among this year’s Oscar nominees All 20 acting contenders are white and no woman is represented in the directing, writing or cinematography categories.—AP
Los Angeles: Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, poses for a portrait in Los Angeles. The film academy has been under fire for the lack of diversity among this year’s Oscar nominees All 20 acting contenders are white and no woman is represented in the directing, writing or cinematography categories.—AP

LOS ANGELES: Too white and too male. That is the charge facing the prestigious Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences after it unveiled its nominations this week for the 2015 Oscars race.

The phrase #OscarsSoWhite soared up the Twitter trending topics within minutes of Thursday’s nominations for the Oscars, the climax of Hollywood’s annual awards season.

Not a single non-white actor or actress was shortlisted in any of the four main acting categories, although the Martin Luther King Jr movie “Selma” did make it into the best picture race.

The drama, starring Oprah Winfrey and Britain’s David Oyelowo as the Nobel Peace Prize-winning black civil rights leader, has been judged best film of the year by the Rotten Tomatoes review aggregator website.

The movie, released just as huge protest rallies were held across the United States over the shooting of unarmed black teenagers by white police officers, had an exceptional 99 percent positive rating on the website.

That is better even than the 98 per cent for coming-of-age drama “Boyhood”, which topped wins at the Golden Globes last weekend and earned six Oscarnominations.

“To nominate it only for best movie and best song, that is disgraceful”, said Tom O’Neil, founder of the Goldderby.com website, which keeps close tabson all the main movie industry prizes.

Picture shows David Oyelowo (center) as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Carmen Ejogo (right) as Coretta Scott King in the film, ‘Selma,’ from Paramount Pictures and Pathe.—AP
Picture shows David Oyelowo (center) as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Carmen Ejogo (right) as Coretta Scott King in the film, ‘Selma,’ from Paramount Pictures and Pathe.—AP

It is only the second time since 1998 that not a single African-American actor was nominated.

“It’s due to the lack of diversity of (Oscar) voters themselves, 93 percent of whom are white, 77 percent male and with an average age of 63. This is not representative of the real world,” O’Neil said.

“It is a shame to see the Academy pass up the opportunity to honor the first black woman director,” Stone said, referring to “Selma” director Ava DuVernay.

“They also passed up the chance to honor the female writer for ‘Gone Girl,’” she added, referring to Flynn.

“‘Selma’ was an excellent movie that acted and directed itself beautifully,” joked actor Joshua Malina.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play

Opinion

Editorial

Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...
New terror wave
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

New terror wave

The time has come for decisive government action against militancy.
Development costs
27 Mar, 2024

Development costs

A HEFTY escalation of 30pc in the cost of ongoing federal development schemes is one of the many decisions where the...
Aitchison controversy
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

Aitchison controversy

It is hoped that higher authorities realise that politics and nepotism have no place in schools.