TOW #19: Nonfiction Piece

In the editorial entitled “Another Year, Another Oscar Whiteout”, The LA Times Editorial board, apart of a very successful newspaper distributor located within Los Angeles California, discusses the fact that the Oscars have gone two years in a row without nominating a single person of color for any of the four acting categories.  The editorial board discusses how outrageous this is due to the number of movies present within the years 2015 to 2016 that involved tremendous directing as well as acting by people of color.  The board then proceeds to argue that this lack of diversity is due to a lack of risk in the film industry on “unfamiliar talent”.  This is then brought into the defense that  due to the election of Cheryl Boone Isaac as film director of the Academy, there may be a broader spectrum of diversity brought into the Oscar Academy Awards in the future.  While it is not believed that this will be an instant change, it is believed that there will be a wider range of diversity brought into the voting process of which films become nominated for the categories due to more “viewpoints and sensibilities to bear when voting”. While I agree this may be true however, I believe that these viewpoints may not change at all in certain cases.  While the president of the academy may be African American, it is not correct to state that because of that change, there will be more of a change in which films are brought into the nominations.  That is not something that can be decided by the Academy in all scenarios.  The problem in itself would be the lack of diversity within films, however, I believe that in recent years film industries have been doing a great job at bringing that diversity in.  While there is still much work to be done, films such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens, there were actors of very different diversity.  While the Academy must make an effort as well to increase this diversity, the problem must not be blamed solely on the Academy.  Yes, it is very questionable as to how and why films such as Creed and Straight Outta Compton did not get nominated for any awards, however, it is also very unquestionable as to why films such as Mad Max and many others were nominated for such awards.  In order to see this increase in diversity, there must be an effort put in by both the Academy in nominations, as well as the film industry in increasing their own diversity through directing and cast.