Hollywood’s Resistance to Diversity at the Oscars

Joaquin Phoenix calls out Hollywood after his BAFTA win

Winning an Oscar is considered a high pinnacle of success in Hollywood. But for many minority actors, this is a far-fetched reality. The Oscars have lost their prominence in recent years because of their lack of diversity with nominations and winners. In an era where diversity is more important than ever, Hollywood continues to turn a blind eye with the Oscars.

Breaking Down the History

The Oscars, also known as the “Academy Awards,” began in 1929. Each year, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences or (AMPAS), presents the Oscar trophy to various category winners. The Academy was first founded in 1927. Members from the 17 branches of the Academy vote on category winners. The Academy’s membership fluctuates yearly based on the number of invitations sent out. The current membership number of the Academy is 8,469.

Each member can only vote in the category they belong to; actors vote for actors and directors vote for directors. For a film to win, it must receive over 50 percent of the votes in the first round of voting. If the film does not achieve the target percentage in the first round, each member’s vote is redistributed to use in the next round.

The 24 Karat gold Oscar trophy stands 13 ½ inches tall and weighs 8 ½ pounds. The knight stands on a film reel of the 5 branches of Academy representing: actors, directors, producers, technicians, writers.

A Turn for The Worst

In 2016, the Oscars received an enormous amount of backlash because all 20 of the actors nominated for the major categories were white. Will Smith in Concussion and the cast of Straight Out of Compton were diverse nominations snubbed from the Oscars. The lack of diversity prompted many celebrities to boycott the Oscars and even inspired the use of the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. April Reign, the creator of the hashtag and managing editor at BroadwayBlack.com summed up her feelings in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter:

“I was disappointed but not surprised in the lack of nominations of people of color and those of marginalized communities,” she said. “It’s unfortunate. Although Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs has attempted to make some changes with respect to diversity by inviting over 300 new members into the Academy last year, those changes did not reflect a difference with respect to how films are nominated and how people are celebrated for their achievements.”

April Reign first created the #OscarSoWhite hashtag in 2015 and it gained even more popularity in 2016. Courtesy of April Reign

There are some cases where controversy can bring a bigger audience. The Oscars missed the mark in 2016, amassing the third-lowest viewership in Oscar history with 34.4 million watchers. The events of 2016 seem to have a residual effect on the viewership on the upcoming Oscars. In 2020, the viewership of the Oscars took another dive in viewership coming in at 23.6 million viewers, which is 3 million less than in 2018.

Frustrated audiences want to see diverse films win at the Oscars. Many cinematic lovers continuously root for movies they feel should win, only to be let down by the Academy’s resistance to diversity.

The Academy created a pledge to combat the lack of diversity problems after the wake-up call in 2016. The Board of Governors for the Academy approved immediate changes to achieve their goal of “doubling the number of women and diverse members of the Academy by 2020.”

Each pie chart represents the Academy's membership diversity throughout the years. Both pictures courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter

The Oscars in 2019 and 2020 both have gone on without a host. In 2019, the Academy required Kevin Hart to apologize past homophobic tweets to be able to host the Oscars. The reason for requiring the apology seemed to be the Academy’s way of symbolizing an intolerance to homophobia and the start of a new and inclusive mindset. Kevin Hart declined to apologize again for something he had already apologized for in the past. Unfortunately, the Academy’s demands for changed behavior of others does not apply to themselves. The Academy can continue to make pledges and bring in a diverse membership, but if nothing changes then there is no accountability. It is hypocritical for the Academy to demand others to represent progressive thinking if the Academy isn’t willing to celebrate diversity in Hollywood.

Going Forward

After making their pledge in 2016, the Oscars took a new approach to bring in members. As reported by the Hollywood Reporter In 2018, the Academy increased the number of invitations to 928 new members. 49 percent of the invites were to women and 38 percent of the invites were for people of color. In 2019, the Academy extended invitations to 842 members from 59 countries with 50 percent women and 29 percent of people of color.

The changes made over the years seemed to bring more diversity at the Oscars. Movies such as Black Panther, Greenbook, Roma, and Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse all won Oscars in 2019. But the vast amounts of diversity did not last at the 2020 Oscars. The nominations lacked any signs of the diversity present at last year's awards. There were only two black film nominations with Harriet and Hair Love. Hair Love did win an Oscar for Best Animated Picture. There were no nominations for films directed by women. The one successful aspect that came out of the 2020 Oscars was Parasite becoming the first foreign-language film to win Best Picture. Parasite also took home three other Oscar wins for Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, Best Foreign Language Film.

Matthew A. Cherry, Directory of Hair Love, manifested his Oscar win with a tweet back in 2012. Courtesy of Rich Fury.

The Oscars seemed to make headway with celebrating diverse films only to take two steps back in the following years. The Oscars nominations in 2020 should have built upon the increased diversity from 2019 but instead, went back to the tendencies that caused a major amount of backlash in previous years. There is no hope for a more diverse Hollywood if the Oscars pick when they recognize diverse films as a trend rather than with permanence.

Although the Academy is reluctant to diverse films, movie audiences are not. Diverse films are popular with audiences because of relatable characters and storylines.

The Academy is reluctant to accept consistent diversity within the Oscars because of the risk of losing control of the old-fashioned narrative. The UCLA Hollywood Diversity Report for 2020 provided data and insight with steps for becoming more inclusive and diverse. One practice they suggest for Hollywood to use going forward was the M.E.A.N.S. acronym: Modernize your worldview; Expand the net; Amplify women, particularly women of color; Normalize compensation; and Structure incentives. These practices will only be effective if Hollywood and the Academy support and accept diversity into the Oscars.

It is up to the Academy to accept Hollywood's inevitable move toward a diverse future or be left behind.

Bong Joon-Ho made history at the 2020 Oscars with his film Parasite. Courtesy of Anthony Harvey