Three Years After #OscarsSoWhite, the Academy Awards Still Have Work to Do In Terms of Equal Representation

In 2016, controversy ignited after the Academy Awards revealed that all 20 of their best leading and supporting actor and actress nominations went to white people. Besides another incredibly homogenous Oscars the year prior, this hadn’t occurred since 1998, and Hollywood-members and film-lovers alike made it known that they weren’t fond of it happening again. The hashtag “#OscarsSoWhite” spread like wildfire and, clearly, for valid reasons.

Three years later, many are claiming that the 2019 Oscars showcased some of the most diverse genres, storylines, and casts, including best picture nominees centered around LGBT+ characters and characters of color. However, behind the scenes, did the 2019 Academy Awards actually represent diversity in film? 

Looking back to the #OscarsSoWhite days of 2016, in some of the most prominent categories—including best picture, best actor and actress in a leading and supporting role, best animated feature film, best cinematography, best costume design, best directing, best original screenplay writing, best production design and best feature documentary—89 percent of the nominees were white. Further, 68 percent of the nominees were men and 60 percent were white men, specifically. Of the 12 winners in the categories above, the numbers aren’t any better. While less than half of the winners were white men, 73 percent were men and 74 percent were white. Clearly, #OscarsSoWhite did a good job of illustrating the circumstances of those awards.  

So, how did this year compare? Only analyzing the best leading and supporting actor and actress categories, things got slightly better, with five out of the 20 nominees being people of color; a humble jump from zero. However, the bigger picture this year is less about the apparent representation on screen and more about the lack of representation that’s harder to detect. Although many movie-goers saw trailers for films about fictional and real-life black superheroes like those in Black Panther and BlacKKKlansman, and complex gay characters like those in Bohemian Rhapsody and The Favourite, those represented on-screen weren’t represented behind the scenes. Further, the on-screen representation that was apparent may not have been as valuable to those rooting for diversity.  

This idea can be illustrated through the best picture winner, Green Book. Starring Mahershala Ali as the late world-class pianist Dr. Don Shirley and Viggo Mortensen as his lowbrow driver Tony Lip, the film focused on how the two learned and grew from each other’s differences and, especially, how Lip protected Shirley while he was doing a traveling act through the extremely racist Deep South of the 1960s. While watching the movie, you’re meant to feel as though the two needed each other and were meant to spend those months riding in a car together, exploring and appreciating their differing cultures. Additionally, you’re meant to be empathetic for and end up liking Lip as a white, straight man who moves on from blatantly racially discriminating at the beginning of the film to physically protecting his black, gay boss from harassment nearing the end. Although this story is a lovely example of positive race relations, the reality of the film’s making might be an unfortunate example of racial inequality. Besides the fact that Shirley’s real-life family came forward and stated that the film was saturated in lies about both Shirley as a person and his “friendship” with Lip…what the, apparently, less-than-factual film was portraying was white-saviorism, or the idea that a white person is the only escape from a helpless person of color’s struggles. Further, the helpful white person should be heavily praised despite their intentions often being self-serving. This foundational element of the film was emphasized when Mortensen was nominated for best leading actor while Ali was nominated for best supporting actor, despite his character being the main reason the film even exists. 

The issues with Green Book aren’t that surprising when you consider the people behind the film. The writer, the director and all five of the producers are white men. This discussion begs the question: how accurate can a story about a black man, and race relations generally, be when all of those who had power over the narrative don’t have the first-hand experience? 

These points are relevant to many of the 2019 Oscar nominations. Bohemian Rhapsody, a story about the famous rock band Queen with a special focus on the band’s lead singer Freddie Mercury, got a lot of heat for ignoring and, when addressed, distorting Mercury’s gay identity. This problem probably wasn’t helped by the fact that Rami Malek, the actor who depicted Mercury, isn’t gay himself. It should be noted that Malek won best leading actor for this role. This same kind of case can be seen in The Favourite, a movie in which the three main characters are 18^th century lesbians. However, to be expected, all three of the actresses in question are straight. To keep with the theme, one of the main actresses, Olivia Colman, won best leading actress despite her lack of connection to a central aspect of her character (actually being gay).

The point remains, how valuable are on-screen representations of marginalized people if they’re played by individuals who don’t experience that marginalization?

And even if that representation is authentic, does that matter when these marginalized groups are considered “supporting” or not considered at all when it comes to praise for stories about them; such as the circumstances regarding Green Book or BlacKKKlansman? BlacKKKlansman is a true story about a black police officer who successfully infiltrated the KKK with the help of a white coworker. The black actor who portrayed the police officer wasn’t nominated for any Oscars while his white counterpart, unsurprisingly, received a best supporting actor nod. 

The addition of movies about marginalized identities onto the silver screen provides people with characters they can relate to; and there is, without-a-doubt, value in that. However, without more well-rounded representation within the writing, directing, producing and acting process of a film…more non-white, non-male, or non-straight on-screen representation is only a façade that provides false comfort and false hope for those yearning for equality.