Why It Should Bother Everyone That The Oscars Are So White

Started by 7H3, Feb 21, 2015, 04:35 PM

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7H3

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/20/oscars-diversity-problem_n_6709334.html
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#OscarsSoWhite that if Common and John Legend win an Academy Award for Best Original Song this Sunday, it will be only the 32nd time in 87 years that a black person has held a competitive Oscar on Hollywood's biggest stage. That's 32 times out of more than 2,900 winners.

"It's a white industry. Just as the NBA is a black industry. I'm not even saying it's a bad thing. It just is," Chris Rock wrote last year in a thoughtful op-ed for The Hollywood Reporter. Rock's piece went viral because of how clearly he laid out the problems in Hollywood: It's a place where at every level, from the top on down, diversity is lagging behind society.

Except here's where Rock was wrong: It is a "bad thing." Last year, 43 million people watched the Academy Awards. This year's ceremony will reach more than 200 countries around the globe. For 87 years, the Oscars have been a celebration of filmmaking. And the message it puts across, however unintentionally, is hard to miss: Certain voices matter more than others.


It should also be noted the SJW authors are white...
I don't watch the Oscars so I don't really care, but not everyone can win and probability states that if their are more x's than y's more x's will get picked. So I don't think its as much about saying x matters more than y, but rather the industry could stand to have a lot more diversity which obviously takes time and has been increasing over time. There are many actors whose film I look forward too because they are great actors and it has nothing to do with something as fickle as skin color.
"It's hip to be square." - Eurogamer<br />"Shut up its art!" -Legend

Raven

Why are we not reading articles about why basketball lacks diversity?

Mmm_fish_tacos

Why are we still reading articles like this at all?

Raven

Maybe Tyler Perry should stop making movies? He sets black people back at least 50 years every time he releases one.

Cute Pikachu

why does everything have to be about race
:P
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7H3


why does everything have to be about race
:P

Reverse Racist SJW journalists I suppose...
"It's hip to be square." - Eurogamer<br />"Shut up its art!" -Legend

Raven


why does everything have to be about race
:P


Because instead of accepting that three of every four Americans are white and thus will, or at least should, more often than not make up the majority of everything that does not have a clear racial bias against white people, they'd rather piss and moan about "discrimination". Now they're trying to use some ridiculous argument that the US has some kind of responsibility to show diversity because the Oscars are going to be broadcast to the world. So, for the sake of hurt feelings around the world, we need to force more non-white people into the Oscars. Basically telling the white people who get forced out, "Sorry. You're an amazing actor and definitely deserve to be here based on performance but.... how do I put this... you're white. We need someone without your.... shade.... to be here because we don't want to upset people. I promise you they're not as good as you are but we need to appeal to the crowd". Gotta love reverse racism.

Legend

It's a hard question.

I'm assuming all of us here are not racist and don't think it's a problem, mostly because we ourselves are "above" racism and don't care about the color of a person's skin.

However the problem with that is many people don't think the same way. One person like us sees the Oscars and doesn't even think about it, while another person sees the lack of representation and believes the film industry is not for them. It's just like females in gaming and other tech fields. Many will simply have an interest and follow it, while others will be pushed down other paths with the belief gaming is a man's industry.

Ideally yes everyone would be above race and gender and simply not care, but that's not how all the world works. There's still plenty of racism and sexism around. I don't believe in criticising the film industry for it's lack of diversity, but an increase of representation certainly wouldn't be a bad thing.

7H3


It's a hard question.
Spoiler for Hidden:

I'm assuming all of us here are not racist and don't think it's a problem, mostly because we ourselves are "above" racism and don't care about the color of a person's skin.

However the problem with that is many people don't think the same way. One person like us sees the Oscars and doesn't even think about it, while another person sees the lack of representation and believes the film industry is not for them. It's just like females in gaming and other tech fields. Many will simply have an interest and follow it, while others will be pushed down other paths with the belief gaming is a man's industry.

Ideally yes everyone would be above race and gender and simply not care, but that's not how all the world works. There's still plenty of racism and sexism around. I don't believe in criticising the film industry for it's lack of diversity, but an increase of representation certainly wouldn't be a bad thing.

I agree and mentioned in my post. Also increasing that diversity would have a greater effect than making it out to be a social injustice issue when that isn't exactly the case
"It's hip to be square." - Eurogamer<br />"Shut up its art!" -Legend

Raven

Sorry, but I'm not into forcing more qualified people out of a position to, basically, appease racists.

BananaKing

just a question, how many white people live in the usa and how many black people live there? i just want to understand the ratio.

Legend


just a question, how many white people live in the usa and how many black people live there? i just want to understand the ratio.


White American   223,553,265   72.4 %
African Americans   38,929,319   12.6 %

Legend


Sorry, but I'm not into forcing more qualified people out of a position to, basically, appease racists.

No I agree with that. The OP (and most) arguments about this are stupid.

the-pi-guy

I think racism and any-isms are tough subjects. 

Does racism exist?  Of course it does.  There's some very ridiculous people out there, that do awful horrible things on the basis of race. 
Does that mean that everything is racist?  It really doesn't. 

Raven


White American   223,553,265   72.4 %
African Americans   38,929,319   12.6 %


Does this ratio count all white people including Hispanic?