How Inclusive are the Academy Awards?

The 2015 hashtag #OscarsSoWhite created a media firestorm over the overwhelmingly white and male nominations for the 2015 Academy Awards. The Academy Awards, most commonly known as The Oscars, received heavy backlash having all white actors nominated in the top 20 acting categories. While the Oscars is known to be overwhelmingly white in its nominees and winners, this was the first time the media took notice of the disparity present in the award show nominations. But just how inclusive is the Oscars? We will take a closer look at the makeup of the board of governors and members that allow for such inequality to exist within the Academy.

The Academy Awards is the oldest and most revered award show for motion pictures. At 92 years old and founded in 1929, the Academy was founded during a period of great racial and gender disparities in the film industry (Sacks). Straight, white men and women have dominated the nominations and winners category throughout the decades. The likely reason points to the fact that the board of governors and members, the ones making the ultimate decision on who gets nominated and wins, are predominantly white and male. The board of governors consists of 54 members and as of 2021, the number of women were 31 and people from underrepresented racial/ethnic communities was 15 (Rottenberg). As of 2015, the voting board members count was 8,469 with 25% women and 8% POC, a staggeringly low number, and it only increased to 32% women and 16% POC in 2019 (Sacks). The members vote on who receives the coveted golden statute. Given the fact that the majority were white men, it is no surprise why we do not see any diversity in the nominations for most Oscar categories.

Since 2019, only 39 awards have been given to black actors/actresses, 12 for those in the LGBTQIA+ community, fewer than 24 actors of Asian descent, 5 Latinx actors/actresses, and 2 disabled actors have ever won in the 92 years since its inception (Ugwu). The outrage over these numbers is warranted given the fact that for two years in a row, in 2015 and 2016, only white actors were nominated for all the important acting categories despite the social media backlash. The #OscarsSoWhite was a catalyst for pointing out the vast inequality within the Academy, highlighting the executive boards and winners.

While the Academy pledged to make strides to close these gaps, it is still not reflected in the nominations. According to the Academy page, “The Board’s goal is to commit to doubling the number of women and diverse members of the Academy by 2020.” They have committed to this promise and included more people of color and women in the board of governors as well as increasing the board membership by 2,916 since 2015 (Thompson). In terms of the actual awards, still only 9 of the 20 major acting nominations were people of color in the 2021 nominations (Oscars.org). Progress is slowly but surely happening behind the scenes and on screen when it comes to the Academy Awards.

For a near hundred year old award show founded during a time of rampant racism, sexism, and homophobia, it is no surprise that progress is slow at changing the power dynamics within the institution. The Academy is making strides to ensure representation from the executive level, the nominees, and winners of the awards. However, it must come to a point where someone from an underrepresented community winning an award is not seen as an outlier, but as the norm. We will be furthering the exploration of award show diversity with the Golden Globes.

Sources:

“The 93rd Academy AWARDS: 2021.” Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2021.

“Academy Establishes Representation and Inclusion Standards for Oscars Eligibility.” Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 10 Sept. 2020, www.oscars.org/news/academy-establishes-representation-and-inclusion-standards-oscarsr-eligibility

Rottenberg, Josh. “Film Academy Elects Record Numbers of Women and People of Color to Board of Governors.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 21 June 2021, www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2021-06-21/film-academy-board-of-governors-elections

Sacks, Ethan. “Who Makes Up the Academy? A Breakdown of the Exclusive Oscars Club.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group, 7 Feb. 2020, www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/awards/who-makes-academy-breakdown-exclusive-oscars-club-n1126866

Thompson, Anne. “Academy Board of Governors Elects the Most Diverse Leadership in Its History.” IndieWire, IndieWire, 4 Aug. 2021, www.indiewire.com/2021/08/oscars-academy-elects-david-rubin-diverse-board-1234655717/

Ugwu, Reggie. “The Hashtag That Changed the Oscars: An Oral History.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 6 Feb. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/02/06/movies/oscarssowhite-history.html