#OscarsSoWhite was a trending topic yesterday for the second year in a row. Guillermo Del Toro, John Krasinski and Ang Lee announced the nominees yesterday morning and for the second year in a row. There was no one of color nominated in the seven biggest categories. In fact, the two films that had a cast that was most diverse (‘Straight Out of Compton’ and ‘Creed’) the only people who were nominated were white. Now I’m not saying that Sly Stallone doesn’t deserve a nomination for everything he’s done for the Rocky series, shoot he wrote the first movie! But I think that Michael B. Jordan deserves some acknowledgement for his role in the film. And there were so many people who could’ve been nominated as best supporting actors in ‘Straight Out of Compton’, but the people who were nominated were the screenplay writers! They completely snuffed Will Smith’s ‘Concussion’ and Idris Elba’s ‘Beast of No Nation’, maybe because it was released on Netflix? Either way, it was an outstanding movie.
Now I’m not trying to make it a black vs white issue, I’m taking a stand for all people of color. The nominations and wins for people of color are few and far between for two main reasons (in my opinion at least). There aren’t enough opportunities given to people of color in Hollywood and when the work that is diverse isn’t properly recognized.
Viola Davis said it best when she won her Emmy last year. People of color (women especially) want their chance to shine and showcase their acting abilities, but it’s hard to do that with Hollywood being so melanin deficient. It’s hard for people of color to find quality roles and even harder for them to be recognized for them. Taraji P. Henson made a statement about being shocked that it was her role of “Cookie” from ‘Empire’ that sparked people’s sudden interest and acceptance of her. She thought that it would’ve been her role in ‘Benjamin Button’ or the ‘Karate Kid’ remake, but it was the outspoken ex-convict that made America and the world love her. The same could be said of Denzel Washington; it wasn’t until he played a crooked cop in ‘Training Day’ that he got recognized. Not a thought was given to his performances in ‘Remember the Titans’, ‘Philadelphia’, ‘Glory’, ‘Malcom X’, I could go on and on because the man has an extensive resume. Oh, and the fact that Morgan Freeman has only won an Emmy for ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ and none of his other great films still grinds my gears. I won’t even mention the Angela Bassetts, Laurence Fishburnes, Regina Kings, Taye Diggs, etc. These people have been acting for years and not one Oscar; shoot Regina just won her first Emmy last year! And it’s not just black people, America Ferrera and Eva Longoria made a joke at this year’s Emmys about the lack of opportunities and diversity for Latinos in Hollywood. Yeah, people laughed at them being mistaken as Eva Mendes and Gina Rodriguez, but it struck chord because it goes to show that they’re not interchangeable like that. There are a handful of Hispanic actresses that are hired for movie and network television roles and that’s not right. They don’t all look alike and they each have different levels of talent. People need to be given a chance to flex their acting abilities so they can be properly recognized…which leads me to my next point.
We as consumers have to start holding Hollywood responsible for properly casting movies and television shows. At the end of the day we’re the ones spending our hard-earned money and flocking to movie theaters or tuning in to these movies and shows. We don’t have to tolerate the blatant miscasting like ‘Exodus: Gods & Kings‘, the movie ‘21‘ which is about the MIT Blackjack team that was mostly Asian American, Jake Gylenhaal in ‘Prince of Persia’, Emma Stone in ‘Aloha’, Al Pacino in ‘Scarface’…honestly the list can go on and on. You can’t tell me that there weren’t any other actors who could’ve played those roles, actors who were actually the correct ethnicities. The studios didn’t think that fans/consumers would support the films if they had a more diverse cast, but we have to prove them wrong. We can’t have another ‘Hermione‘ situation.
We have also got to recognize people for their talent! There’s an entire movement behind getting Leo DiCaprio an Oscar (because he truly deserves one for some of his roles), but where’s that support for actors like Forest Whitaker or Cuba Gooding Jr, and Antonio Banderas? What’s the point in fighting for the opportunity for actors of color if they’re not going to be recognized for their work? It’s a multi-step process and it has to start now.