The Oscars Attempt To Be Not So White

Illustration by Zoe Gigis

Illustration by Zoe Gigis

The exclusion of ethnic, racial and LGBTQ+ communities isn’t new in Hollywood. When award season rolls around every year, it's no surprise that a majority of nominees and winners are consistently white cis men. Many viewers and filmmakers themselves have become aware of this long exclusion from the Academy, resulting in the award show being known as #OscarsSoWhite on social media.

Yet now, the Academy is attempting to stray away from their historic theme of excluding representative voices and continued, snubbed recognitions by enforcing an inclusion rule; promising to guarantee more diversity in the years to come. So, what are these new rules, and can they be bent?

To outline, as stated by the Academy, there are four parts to the new guidelines: A, B, C and D. Filmmakers will only need to meet a minimum of TWO parts to be considered for Best Picture, and this will not be fully enforced until the year 2024. Throughout, the rules refer to underrepresented groups; to clarify, this includes any of the following:

  • Women

  • LGBTQIA+

  • Racial or Ethnic Groups

  • People with cognitive or Physical disabilities, or who are deaf/hard of hearing

So, beginning with

Part A:

You must have some form of on-screen representation, themes and narratives within the story. (Pretty much instead of nominating another sci-fi movie about a white guy going to space they can be black or brown too!) 

You can have at least ONE of the following to meet this standard:

  • At least one of the leads or significant supporting actors must be from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group.

  • At least 30% of all actors in secondary and more minor roles are from at least two of underrepresented groups.

  • The main storyline, theme or narrative of the film is centered on an underrepresented group.

Part B:

You must show an inclusive team of creative leaders and project members part of the filmmaking process. (Which means yay! No more feeling uncomfortable on all white sets! Or maybe you will, but as long as there’s a few women to do makeup and hair - Inclusivity through and through kids!) 

You must meet ONE of the following to fulfill this requirement:

  • Two creative leadership positions and department heads (director, writer, editor, producer, casting, sound, makeup, costume, production design, or set director) must be from an underrepresented group.

  • A minimum of six other crew members and technical positions must be from an underrepresented group (not including production assistants).

  • A minimum of at least 30% of the overall film crew and team must be from an underrepresented group.

Part C:

Regarding paid industry access and opportunities from both large film and/or independent companies for underrepresented groups. (Underrepresented kids have officially made it! No more unpaid internships and low balled opportunities when competing against the white guy that went to NYU Film School and already has three times as much experience as you do!)

You must meet BOTH of the following requirements: 

  • The film’s distribution or finance company must have a paid apprenticeship, or internships that are from an underrepresented group.

  • The production, distribution or financing company must offer a variety of below-the-line-skill development opportunities for underrepresented groups.

Part D:

Representation in marketing, publicity, and distribution in gaining audience development. (The big boys up top can’t be filled with white cis creepers anymore.)

You must meet the following:

  • The studio or film company must include senior-executive members that are from an underrepresented group for their marketing, publicity and distribution teams.

Now, will these rules work? 

Based on the minimum of only needing to meet TWO parts, it seems ineffective. 

For example, if the same best picture nominees that prompted the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag back in 2015 followed these rules, they’d all pass. Selma, Whiplash, American Sniper, Birdman, The Grand Budapest Hotel, The Imitation Game, The Theory of Everything, and Boyhood all pass the new rules. How?

Selma, easily fulfills parts A and B. Part A is met by having a black female director, Ava DuVernay, and Part B in telling the historic story of how MLK and his followers marched from Selma to Montgomery in an effort to pass the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Whiplash fulfills parts B and D. Part B by having a variety of female makeup and production creative leads, and Part D in having Sony Picture Classics, one of their many distributors, having underrepresented senior executives on their team.

American Sniper, barely passes in fulfilling parts B and C. Part B by again, having a variety of female makeup and costume leads. Part C is where things can get muddy; the film is partnered with Village Roadshow Pictures, in financing the production, and because they provide paid internships and low-level skilled jobs to underrepresented groups they pass. 

But how do you know they actually are?

You don’t, and neither will the Academy. The rule states that you must provide paid opportunities which can be easily fulfilled, especially by large companies such as Village Roadshow Pictures, but the purpose of the rule is having interns and apprenticeship workers being from underrepresented groups. Which means any film company that helps finance film productions can claim they provided this by giving the information of their interns and apprenticeship workers. Yet they can easily bypass stating these specificites by claiming they work with predominantly diverse colleges or film schools.

Birdman passes in fulfilling parts B and C. Part B by having Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu, and Part C again by having their financial distributor Fox Searchlight Pictures,  provide paid internships and low-level skilled jobs to underrepresented groups. 

The Grand Budapest Hotel fulfills both parts A and B.  Part A due to the film casting Guatamlen-American actor Tony Revolori, as supporting character Zero, and Part B in having a female producer and creative graphic lead.

The Imitation Game meets both Parts B and C. Part B in having female heads of makeup and production design, and Part C in having their film distributor, Filmnation, offering paid internships and low-level skilled jobs to underrepresented groups. 

The Theory of Everything passes parts A and B. Part A in telling the story of the famous Stephen Hawking’s life with his wife in facing his illness ALS and Part B in having female producers and Casting directors. 

Boyhood passes in meeting Parts A and B. Part A in casting Mexican-American actress, Lionel Linklater as a supporting character Samantha, and Part B in having numerous female producers and makeup leads.

If every best picture nominee from 2015 is able to pass these rules, what difference are they really making? Each part of the criteria only asks for the bare minimum, and the fact the filmmakers only need to meet two of the four parts is redundant, and hardly different to the way things are now. 

These rules are also ineffective in the representation that the Academy so desperately wants to believe they present. If they truly wanted change, why not enforce all four parts or even higher standards in meeting them. Why do these rules solely account for one nomination of the night when it should act for all of them?

This lack of effort even when the Academy attempts to utilize their power in inhabiting diverse artists and stories is pitiful. Especially as they believe enforcing such rules will instil some form of change in the very exclusive algorithm they’ve created. They act more as a pacifier for the underrepresented artists and filmmakers that continuously call for opportunities and accurate representations on screen. 

This problem is not with films that don’t include underrepresented groups, it's in how the Academy refuses to see that they already exist, whether they’ve already been written or seen on screen. The same goes for underrepresented directors, writers, producers, casting agents etc. - they are all out there, they just haven’t been recognized as much as their white counterparts. This proves that the Academy doesn’t create an environment for underrepresented filmmakers; they’d much rather have their usual rotation of white nominees meet the bare minimum in following these rules which only keep the #OscarsSoWhite. 

Adriana Martinezbatch 3