The hashtag Oscars So White hit the big time this January after the release of the Oscar nominations. While there are great actors, directors, and movies on the list, many people wondered where the diversity in the nominations was. Idris Elba, Michael B. Jordan, Will Smith and countless others made amazing strides in movie making this past year and were missing from the Oscars list of nominations.
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After the nominations were released there was an outcry on social media and thus #OscarsSoWhite was born. It was not long after the hashtag was born that many actors decided to boycott the Oscars in order to demand more diversity in the nominations, some of these actors included Jada Pinket-Smith and her husband Will Smith.
I think the board over at the Academy knew the issue they had on their hand and did their best to rectify the it by having Chris Rock host the show. Rock dropped a lot of "jokes" about the whiteness of not only the Oscars but also Hollywood.
The issue that the lack of diversity in the Oscars bring up are abundant, but most importantly may be the seemingly lack of acceptance of diverse people in Hollywood. This is an important issue to discuss because the things people see in media can reflect on the way they perceive in 'real life'.
The Oscars and other similar award shows contribute to the continued lack of diversity in Hollywood. Because people of color are rarely nominated and rarely win awards, diverse movies aren't made and diverse stories aren't told because there's a myth they won't do well at the box office or with awards season. It creates a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy in a weird way. I hope we can see more diverse stories being told, and less whitewashing in entertainment media.
This was interesting to read because I never heard of this hashtag that they had used to bring awareness to this issue! You did an amazing job explaining course concepts and making sure that your audience knew exactly what was going on!
The Oscars and other similar award shows contribute to the continued lack of diversity in Hollywood. Because people of color are rarely nominated and rarely win awards, diverse movies aren't made and diverse stories aren't told because there's a myth they won't do well at the box office or with awards season. It creates a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy in a weird way. I hope we can see more diverse stories being told, and less whitewashing in entertainment media.
ReplyDeleteThis was interesting to read because I never heard of this hashtag that they had used to bring awareness to this issue! You did an amazing job explaining course concepts and making sure that your audience knew exactly what was going on!
ReplyDeleteErin, I completely agree with your statement. The more the bulk of society accepts diversity, the more it will be seen in media.
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