The Oscar Nominees Are Hardly Hollywood's Problem

Well, the Oscar Nominees are out. They're.... really, really white. So white that at least one author dubbed it "the year of the important white man movies." Even "Selma" didn't do that great.

I'm going to push back a little bit. An awards show should pick the best movies from that year, period. We don't want to start handing out awards for purposes besides being great art, as that cheapens awards. We should leave the social justice talk mostly out of discussing awards, because it doesn't belong there. If The Academy thinks these are the best movies, then so be it. I may disagree with it, but that's their call.

With that, we know the nominees to an award show are not the real issue. The real issue is that Hollywood itself is white. Really white. Opportunity for minorities to make it in Hollywood are few and far between. Hollywood is more white, more male, and basically Christian and Jewish. If we learned anything from the more embarrassing portions of the Sony emails, it's that "the good ole' boys" still run the show, in formal power, pay, and the opportunities afforded to them.

If you really want to have a problem with the Oscar nominees, be mad about the make-up of the Academy voters- 94% white, and 77% male. With that playing field to start with, of course you aren't going to see minorities and women being nominated or producing the bigger films. Worry about opening the doors, not a bunch of old critics and their votes.