Sunday, January 24, 2016
Associated Press
NEW YORK
The widespread outrage over two-straight years of largely white Oscar nominees coalesced behind three damning, viral words: “OscarsSoWhite.” The hashtag, which activist April Reign is credited with creating, lent social-media unity to a tide of frustration that Friday led to diversity reforms announced by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
Like many others, Reign celebrated the announcement. But only for a moment.
“Although we are encouraged by today’s news, change still must be made,” says Reign, who still plans to rally viewers in boycotting the Feb. 28 broadcast. “The nominees are still the same as they were a week ago.”
The actions announced Friday by academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs after a unanimous vote by the academy’s 51-member Board of Governors were by some measure an uncommonly quick reaction to the crisis that had enveloped the Academy Awards since nominations were announced eight days earlier.
But to many of those who have lobbied for change, the academy’s announcement was seen as just a beginning: a first step in a growing movement for equal opportunity, on movie sets and award-show stages, in an industry that lags far behind matching the racial, ethnic and gender makeup of its movie-going public.
“I applaud their attempts to do something about it,” said Don Cheadle, who was nominated for best actor in 2005 for his performance in “Hotel Rwanda.” “But, again, this is dealing with the symptom, not starting at the root cause of how we even get to results like this, which has to do with inclusion and access and the ability for people of color, women and minorities to get at entry-level positions where you can become someone who can green-light a movie.”
To infuse an overwhelming white, male and older academy with more diverse members who might be drawn to more varied nominees, the academy’s Board of Governors voted to require that member voting status (previously a lifetime honor) be reviewed every 10 years; that the board add three new seats to be filled by Boone Isaacs; and that traditional member recruitment be expanded in a global campaign to boost diversity. The academy’s goal is to double the number of women and minorities by 2020, though it hasn’t disclosed its current demographic makeup.
Whether the academy can shift the focus onto the larger industry will be challenging. Thanks to the last two years of nominees, the Oscars have absorbed the lion’s share of the spotlight on diversity.