I have watched the Oscars every year since 1972 and I've never seen such a brouhaha over nominations as I have seen this year. However, I think it's good that attention has been paid to the fact that Oscar nominees are almost always white, and the awards need to be far more diverse.
However, I also want to point out that the problem is far more complex than it appears on the surface.
We live in an increasingly diverse society and I think that's a great thing. My children went to schools in suburban Atlanta that are good schools and where white kids were not in the minority, but there were many Asian, Hispanic, and African-American children, too. (By contrast, I grew up mostly in Tennessee and I went to schools that were 98% white.)
Larger cities tend to be a better place for families with members of more than one race.
My friend Cindy LaJoy has five children - three Asian and two Caucasian. Her Caucasian daughters are always assumed to be her biological children. They live in a tiny town in Colorado that has very few Asians. Cindy gets very tired of strangers asking her if her sons are exchange students or if she's chaperoning a school field trip every time they go anywhere. The lack of diversity is painfully obvious. My friend Stephanie has 13 adopted children, and one of her oldest kids, Max, is obviously Asian. They live in a small town in North Carolina and Max got bullied at school when he was small, because he's Asian. My friend Cindy Bodie has 38 adopted children, all Hispanic or part Hispanic. Some years ago she blogged about one of her daughters getting rushed to the hospital and encountering issues until Cindy got there and explained she was the mom, and instantly the "white lady" factor kicked in and the child was treated right. If they lived here in Atlanta there would be far less hassle, because we have all kinds of diverse families around here and most folks mind their own business.
My point is simply that big cities tend to be more diverse, and families with members of different races are bullied or hassled far less.
Los Angeles is a huge place, but Hollywood is basically a small town, a one-industry town. Most of the movers and shakers are white. That's not good, but it is simply reality. I think it's good that Jada Smith and Spike Lee are pointing out the obvious, that Hollywood needs to change.
What really needs to happen is that people of color need to get funding for movies, and writers need to be encouraged and helped to write stories that are more inclusive of all races. Those are ways to make the Oscars more fair. George Clooney, a very smart guy, said "I don’t think it’s a problem of who you’re picking as much as it is: How many options are available to minorities in film, particularly in quality films?”
Right now you have an Academy membership that's almost entirely old white guys. Old white guys are probably going to nominate mostly white folks in big-budget movies. Is that fair? No.
Some years ago there was a movie starring Jack Nicholson called About Schmidt, and it got nominated for several Oscars. I HATED that movie. I thought it was terrible and I was pissed off after I had sat in the theater and watched it for two hours. However, the old white guys in the Academy loved it because it was about... AN OLD WHITE GUY.
Duh.
The OLD WHITE GUYS run Hollywood. They need to move over and give other people a chance.
Fortunately, the current president of the Academy, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, who is not an old white guy, seems to be on top of things as she recently said: "I’d like to acknowledge the wonderful work of this year’s nominees," Isaacs shared in her statement to Us Weekly. "While we celebrate their extraordinary achievements, I am both heartbroken and frustrated about the lack of inclusion. This is a difficult but important conversation, and it’s time for big changes. The Academy is taking dramatic steps to alter the makeup of our membership. In the coming days and weeks we will conduct a review of our membership recruitment in order to bring about much-needed diversity in our 2016 class and beyond."
If you want to get mathematical about it, check out the stats from the US Census Bureau. Whites make up somewhere between 62 and 77% of the population. Somewhere around 23-38% of us are not white. Hollywood should aim for the same diversity in the ranks of its movers and shakers - not just Academy members, but directors, producers, writers, etc. Then and only then will we see quality films made that really reflect America.
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Of all the movies released in 2015, there is only one that I think is clever and entertaining. I didn't even go to the theater to see movies last year, due to health issues and well, also, an almost complete lack of interest in any movie released.... if you're looking for a great movie to watch -- in the comfort of home, in your jammies, with frequent potty breaks, which is my fave way to watch movies -- watch SPY. It should win best picture. If you replaced all the OLD WHITE GUYS with CURVY LADIES OVER 40, Spy would sweep the Oscars...
