[ad_1]
(CNN) Year after year, the topic surrounding major awards shows is the same: Where is the diversity?
Even in a record-setting year like 2023 — so far, Beyoncé has become Most Awarded Artist More Asian nominees in Grammy history within one year At the Oscars — questions remain about the shows’ commitment to fairness.
Many have criticized this year’s Oscars — held on Sunday — for failing to acknowledge the black female talent. Grammy Awards snub beyoncé Harry Styles stunned fans and critics alike by winning Album of the Year.while in british film instituteessentially the British Academy Awards, each winner This year it is white.
These mainstream awards are often coveted due to financial interests and industry influence. But even with public pressure on the entertainment industry to increase diversity, some see incremental change.
“We’re seeing more (change) because they don’t want to be criticized anymore,” said Nancy Wang Yuen, a sociologist and author of “Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism,” referring specifically to the Oscars. “But the various changes they made were only in name.”
Artists of Color Have Difficulty Even Getting Recognized
One of the problems with mainstream awards is how difficult it is for people of color to be recognized.
The last time a woman of color won an Academy Award for Best Actress was in 2002, when Halle Berry won for her role in “Monster Ball,” and became the first black woman to take home the honor. In her acceptance speech, Berry dedicated her win to black actresses past and present, and “every unsung and unsung woman of color who has the opportunity right now, because the door has opened tonight. “
However, it is not. Excluding this year’s nominees, Since Berry won, only nine women of color have been nominated for the award, and none have won. Meanwhile, other actresses, such as Frances McDormand, won the award twice in the same amount of time.
This year, Michelle Yeoh, one of the most famous actresses in the world, was nominated for an Oscar for the first time. If she is declared best actress on Sunday, she will make history by becoming the first Asian winner in the category. It took her decades to gain recognition for the nomination, and looking ahead to her upcoming roles, Yuen points out that Young is still mostly out of leading roles.
Michelle Yeoh (centre) received her first Best Actress Oscar nomination for “Everything at the Same Time.”
Yang has been vocal about the disparities Asian actors face.period round table In December, she spoke about older women having trouble accepting interesting roles, Citing her own experiences as an Asian woman.
“Honestly, I envy all of you because you have the opportunity to try out all the different roles,” Young said at the time. “But we probably only have one chance like that in a long, long time.”
If one of the most famous Asian actresses in the world is struggling, is it harder for other actors of color, Yuen said? She noted that the situation facing Berry and Yeoh demonstrated just how flawed the system was.
“Even the awards alone are not enough to overcome the structural racism and sexism women of color face in Hollywood,” Yuen said.
But barriers to people of color can be found throughout the entertainment industry — not just in movies.
Jasmine Henry, professor of music at the University of Pennsylvania, cites Beyoncé as an example. Despite being one of the most Grammy-winning artists, her actual win rate is actually lower than other artists compared to the number of times she has been nominated.
While Beyoncé has won 32 times and been nominated 88 times, Adele, for example, has won 16 times and received only 25 nominations — Give Adele a higher win rate. Adele was also nominated for Album of the Year twice, with three nominations, while Beyoncé was nominated four times in the category but never won.
Beyoncé made history at the 2023 Grammy Awards as the most nominated artist in history, but she has yet to win the coveted Album of the Year award.
“[The Grammys]honor black artists, but suffice it to say they do honor them,” Henry said. “Not enough to really produce a fair outcome.”
Many black artists and artists of color are placed in the R&B or rap music box, limiting the categories in which they can be nominated and won, Henry said.
Drake has been talking about it. In 2017, when his lead song “Hotline Bling” (a song he sang primarily on) won Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance, Drake made it clear that it wasn’t a rap song.
“The only category they fit me in was the rap category,” Drake said in the interview After the awards. “Maybe it’s because I’ve rapped in the past, or because I’m black.”
Majority White Voting Agency Leads to Unconscious Bias
As for why these mainstream awards have been slow to reward and recognize diverse talent, the answer often lies with the awards bodies themselves.
These institutions are often legacy, Henry said, meaning those involved in the system and industry are the ones who get votes. For a long time, in many parts of the entertainment industry, that meant voters tended to be white.
Today, most major awards shows are relatively secretive about who decides the nominees and winners in each category. Still, many see little change in their voter demographics.
Although the Recording Academy, which awards the Grammys, has worked hard In an effort to increase minority representation in recent classes, Henry said the group is still considered predominantly male and white.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences isn’t much better.The academy does not publicly provide demographic data on its constituents, but A 2016 study by the Los Angeles Times It found that 91 percent of voters were white and 76 percent were male.Although the academy is also trying to increase the diversity of its ranks by electing more women and people of color to its councilRecent estimates suggest that the organization is still composed of Mostly white people and men.
Film critic Robert Daniels explained that when voting bodies are relatively homogeneous, it affects what and who they think is worthy of a nomination. Older white voters may unconsciously gravitate toward stories they find relevant, and those stories aren’t always the most diverse narratives.
“Most people say they vote on something they like, but of course we have to examine why they like it,” Daniels said.
Even with the Academy’s changes, the majority of Oscar voters are still white and male.
With many members of the public pushing for more diversity at awards shows such as #OscarsSoWhite campaign In 2015, Daniels said, many voters may also recognize the need for a more diverse nomination, so perhaps nominate a person or two of color.
But one or two are still incremental. The idea that most, if not all, of the nominees could be people of color is not something that most voters are likely to consider, Daniels said. Instead, they may wish to simply check the diversity box in their nominations.
Studios also spend the most money on the films they think are most likely to be nominated, Yuen said, which essentially means pandering to voters.
“People will invest a lot of money in Tom Cruise because they believe in him,” Yuan explained.
But that may not be the case for minority stories, she said.
The entire entertainment industry needs to change
However, the awards show has made some headway in honoring minority stories.
Historically, films starring Asian actors have not won individual performance Oscars for actors of Asian descent — even if the film itself has won, Yuen said.
She cited 2008’s “Slumdog Millionaire,” 2000’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and 2019’s “Parasite,” all of which were nominated for Oscars in multiple categories, including best picture, But all involved actors have zero nominations.
This year is different. Nominated in multiple categories, “Everything, Everything” was a favorite for Best Picture. And the film’s three main actors — Xu Liyuan, Quan Jiahui and Michelle Yeoh — were also nominated in the individual acting category.
“The (Oscars) finally recognized Asian bodies, not just Asian stories,” Yuan said. “There’s the Asian theme, the cast, the talent, and they actually embody the characters and perform as well as any other actor who’s usually nominated.”
The issue of representation is not limited to awards ceremonies, Daniels said. The entire entertainment industry—including critics, guilds, and studios—needs to change, too.
“We have a reckoning with #OscarsSoWhite, and I think there’s a problem … we think only the Oscars are so white,” he said. “Every level needs to become more diverse.”
Ke Huy Quan won Best Supporting Actor – Outstanding Performance by a Motion Picture and Film Actor at this year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards.
He cites the Gotham Awards as an example. Daniels said the annual awards show is centered around independent filmmakers, and each category has a small, diverse nominating committee that sees eligible films and collectively decides on nominees. He said committee votes also help improve diversity at other large awards shows.
BAFTA has incorporated this approach for some benefits.To increase the diversity of nominees, BAFTA overhauled their process 2020Therefore, in 2021 and 2022, most of the nominees for the award will be selected by a smaller jury, rather than just voted by members of the British Academy.Subsequently, BAFTA’s nominees increased their representation – considered the Win the British Academy.
But this year, in 2023, the group has withdrawn some of those changes after criticism, deciding instead to equally split nominations For each category between voters and juries — meaning both groups selected an equal number of nominees.
While the nominees vary, all of this year’s BAFTA winners are white.
Nominees are still considered a diverse group. However, at this year’s awards ceremony, all the winners were white, cause problems About whether the overhaul actually brought about concrete changes.
“We’ve seen equal opportunity in some cases, but certainly not equal outcomes,” Henry said. “We’re stuck in this cycle of sometimes a little bit of progress and sometimes a little bit of regress.”
Henry said that to have a lasting impact, the industry needs to look beyond superficial changes and work to rebalance structural issues and deep-seated biases in the entertainment industry.
“By addressing deep-seated racism, sexism and homophobia in the industry, it means assessing not just the awards category and system, but the labels, the film industry, production practices and the industry as a whole,” she said. “It’s a horrible ball of yarn that needs to be tried and unraveled.”
Nor will its problems change until the industry makes broader changes, Henry said.
[ad_2]
Source link
