For quite some time, the Academy has been accused of having prejudices against non-white actors and film makers. In fact last year, The Academy Awards were slander with the hash tag, #OscarsSoWhite, for subbing excellent projects made by people of color, such as the film, Straight Outta Compton (2015) and Selma (2015). As well as, nominating the white actor (Sylvester Stallone) instead of the black protagonist (Michael B. Jordan) in the film Creed (2015) even though Jordan delivered an exquisite performance. The Academy has a record of only nominating white member for their contribution in a larger minority based project. Fortunately in 2017, we saw an increase in nominations for minorities, including winning Best Picture of Year. Nevertheless, there is an unbalanced number of white and minorities academy winners. Being a minority myself, of Hispanic origin, I noticed that there is little to no Hispanic academy winners since its creation. Below I created a infographic of the Hispanic Gap and information about the Academy Voters.
I become exhilarated whenever Hispanic directors and writers get recognized for their work, because it is so rare. I so admire the revolutionary work of director Alejandro González Iñárritu who has demonstrated time and again that power of Mexican filmmakers in an American society. Alejandro has created amazing films, such as Birdman (2014), The Revenant (2015), Biutiful (2010), and Babel (2006) to name some.
I will be writing a piece on him. Stay tuned.
The numbers are surprising and it is worse compare to the African-American community in terms of winning a nomination. I hoping that the academy will continue to nominate incredible films regardless of the color of the writers, producers, and actors. It is a sad reality but it does not prevent my love for films. Being a “cinephile” means recognizing flaws in films but still appreciate the art, that for 50 years after its creation, was not recognized as an art mode.
What do you think about these numbers?
The Cinephile 