There was likely a lot of hand-wringing and finger pointing in Hollywood this week in the wake of Academy Award nominations that were labeled #OscarsSoWhite for the second year in a row.
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Conversely, a movie such as “Fruitvale Station”, about the last moments of an unarmed black man’s life before he is senselessly killed by police officers at a train station, was snubbed by the academy eight months before Michael Brown was killed. As Trey Taylor, a regular writer for Vogue, The Atlantic, and Interview commented on Twitter, “It’s telling in a film directed by a black dude with five black dudes in leads, they nominate two white scriptwriters”. He said he didn’t see it as an Oscar film but “Creed” was considered an Oscar film and so was “Concussion”. Los Angeles, the company town for the film and entertainment industry, is known for being one of the largest and most nationally diverse cities in the world, but people of color are systematically denied jobs and education in film production and all its related areas of production and distribution.
Ice Cube’s new movie “Ride Along 2” is out in United Kingdom cinemas on 22 January.
Following the apparent Oscar snub, many people on Twitter have expressed their anger at the movie being “robbed”. While “12 Years a Slave” and “The Help” were both formidable projects worthy of their Oscar nods, they highlight the sad reality that the academy is more likely to take notice when the black experience is portrayed as some sort of monolithic response to white guilt. Number one at the box office, over $200 million worldwide, you know? I think we’re kind of hitting fossil territory at this point, despite the Academy’s admirable efforts to diversify its membership – there is only so much you can do about the actors branch. “I can’t be mad”. When it’s doubtful, when nobody is on your side, when your back is against the wall, you triumph and make it through. (But) I don’t want to make it an issue about that. “Showing our stories of triumph, we’ll make it through and we’ll get to something better”.
The Oscar nominations were released earlier this week no African American’s were included in the nominations of the top 20 actors. Those voicing disappointment included the academy’s president herself Cheryl Boone Isaacs. “Of course I am disappointed, but this is not to take away the greatness [of the films nominated]”, she told Deadline.
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Packer congratulated all of the nominees, including Compton screenwriters Jon Herman and Andrea Berloff (the film earned a best screenplay nom), but said he really wanted to applaud those who were left off the list. “You are never going to know what is going to appear on the sheet of paper until you see it”. “That was when I started thinking, ‘Oh wow, we can win one'”.
