"Hola, amigos. Been a long time since I rapped at ya."
Another year, another batch of superhero movies and dystopian teen flicks and swan songs of aging stars and unprecedented comebacks (lookin' at you, Ricki and the Flash's Rick Springfield!). Yes, the trends continue in Hollywood, California, and I'd be remiss not to mention the most hot-button one of all going into the Academy's 88th ceremony: #OscarsSoWhite
If you haven't been following the controversy, here is a quick download. This past MLK Day, Spike Lee (no real surprise there) and Jada Pinkett Smith took to social media to announce their boycott of the Oscars because for the second straight year, there were no actors of color nominated for any of the acting roles. Shortly thereafter, the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite catches inferno within minutes. Then, in the attention-grab to end all attention-grabs, Janet Hubert, known almost exclusively for her role as Will's aunt Vivian on The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and her subsequent feud with Will Smith over royalties, called out J.P.S., claiming that the whole thing is lack-of-Concussion-nominations-based rather than taking-a-stand-on-racial-disparity-based:
"First of all, Miss Thing, does your husband not have mouth with which to speak?"
"And here's the other thing...for you to ask other black actors and actresses to jeopardize their careers and their standing in a town that you know damn well you don't do that."
And then, her thesis statement, her "knockout punch":
"I find it ironic that somebody who has made their living, and made millions and millions of dollars from the very people you're talking about boycotting just because you didn't get a nomination, just because you didn't win."
...Damn, Aunt Viv! Who knew?
Whether or not Lee and Pinkett-Smith had questionable intentions (more on that in a minute), they're ultimately right. Last year, David Oyelowo turned in maybe the best performance in years with his role in Selma and somehow didn't even get a nomination. It was mind-boggling. Ditto Ava DuVernay, who not only directed the hell out of it but also made some unpopular decisions in doing so, humbling Dr. King by including his skirt-chasing and self-doubt and making him a human being. It was nice to see it as a best picture nominee, and I was happy for Common and John Legend's win, but it felt more like an aw-shucks consolation for the two people that actually deserved to be recognized.
There's simply no argument against the fact that institutional racism exists in Tinseltowns's storied history. If that weren't true, we wouldn't have waited seventy-some years for Halle Berry to be the first black actress to take home the gold in 2001, or for Viola Davis to become the first woman of color to win an Emmy only a few months ago. It's been a huge problem. Forever.
So while it is great that they are bringing it to the spotlight for discussion, the the fact that it is Lee and Pinkett-Smith feels kind of inconsequential. I agree with the idea but not the execution; neither of them are exactly relevant at the moment (I will say that at the time of this writing I, like everyone else, have not seen Concussion or Chi-Raq, and if they're stunners, I will detract). And more to Viv's point about biting the hand that feeds you: In Lee's social media tirade, he led off by saying "I would like to thank Cheryl Boone Isaacs And the Board of Motion Pictures And Sciences For Awarding Me an Honorary Oscar this Past November." Good on you for acknowledging, Spike, but it's a dick move considering how you've been treated by the Academy in the past.
Maybe the issue is, as Viola Davis said in her acceptance speech, the lack of roles and opportunities. This year, you have the aforementioned Smith and Michael B. Jordan in Creed...and that's pretty much it. On the list of top-grossing films of the year, I had to go all the way down to #122 to find a movie that starred an African-American woman, and I used the term "woman" loosely because I am talking about Quvenzhané Wallis, the twelve-year-old star of Annie. With the exception of John Boyega's Finn in The Force Awakens, the only film with an African-American lead to crack the top 20 was Straight Outta Compton (#19), and, along with Creed at #29, was one of only two of the thirty movies to break the 100 million mark.
For everyone not named Will or Denzel or Kevin or Ice, this is an issue. If you sidled up to the average person on the street right now and asked them "What's the name of the actor who plays Adonis Creed, again?" most people would not be able answer Michael B. Jordan, despite his outstanding, completely overlooked performance in Fruitvale Station two years ago. If you asked them to name one cast member of Straight Outta Compton, they'd maybe say "isn't one of them related to Ice Cube?"
The Academy will have you know, thank you very much, that the same year that both Fruitvale and 42 were totally shut out, a movie with two black leads and a black director won best picture. Even though Steve McQueen didn't win the director prize, 12 Years A Slave became the first best picture winner with a black director at the helm.
What the Academy won't bring up, though is that it only took 86 years, or that T.J. Martin became the first African-American to direct the winning documentary the year before, and that only took 85 years. Or that in all 88 years a grand total of three (!) African-Americans have been nominated for best director.
People like statistics and charts and graphs and such these days, right? Let's look at the last 15 years of cinema. Each year, there are 5 nominees for best actor, actress, supporting actor and supporting actor respectively. So, if we're looking at the year 2000 (meaning movies in 2000 and ceremony in early 2001) to now, that's 75 total nominations in each category.
Of the 75 possible slots for best actress over that time, 4 went to African-American women. Quevenzhané Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild, Viola Davis for The Help, Gabourey Sidibe for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire and the only winner of the bunch, Halle Berry in Monster's Ball. That breaks down to 5.3% of total nominations in the last 15 years.
Black men have been a little better represented. 10 have been nominated in the last 15 years for best actor, making a clip of 13.3% total, and of those 10 came three winners (Denzel in Training Day, Jamie Foxx in Ray, Forrest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland).
Six of the 75 supporting actor nominations (roughly 8%) were for African-Americans with one win (Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby), and nine of 75 supporting slots (12%) for women, with 4 wins (Jennifer Hudson, Mo'Nique, Octavia Spencer, Lupita Nyong'o).
Some people feel like the racial divide in America, despite an 8-year period with an African-American leader of the Free World, is the worst it's been in a long time. Right after Sandra Bland, I got into a discussion with my colleagues at the summer program where I've worked the past two years (I'm actually in the minority on this particular staff), and they contested me it's not any different than before. These days, the incidents are more heavily publicized. I live in a city that considers itself hip and liberal and diverse. In reality, it's awfully segregated, and our state boasts the second highest achievement gap in the country. Where is the highest? In the state I grew up in--Wisconsin.
And while you can argue that the racial divide is alive and well in the film industry, there is hope in other forms of entertainment. Black-ish and Empire are absolutely crushing it on all accounts. The live band on The Tonight Show is composed entirely of African-American artists. Kendrick Lamar's game-changing, black-as-f*** To Pimp A Butterfly is nominated for 11 grammies, second all-time only to the 12 bestowed on Michael Jackson's Thriller.
All things considered, I get where the detractors are coming from. With Bland and countless others making their way to the front of our collective social conscience over the last two years, the Academy should be looking at performances and contributions that move race relations forward. Getting some younger blood in the voting cadre certainly wouldn't hurt, either.
It starts with the studios. If they're not creating the opportunities or making fair casting choices (does Anthony Mackie really have to be the only black Avenger? What happened to Idris Elba as Bond? How many Ride Alongs and Barbershops will it take before there are halfway decent offers on the table?) or hiring directors outside of names-are-in-the-titles-of-all-of-their-movies Tyler Perry and Lee Daniels, the cycle will slowly plod along. Reports are coming out that The Birth of a Nation, a biggish-budget version of the W.E.B. Dubois classic about Nat Turner's uprising, is an early frontrunner for next year. That would change the current conversation, at the very least.
I don't know if a boycott by two spurned celebrities is the answer. But something's gotta give.
Can't wait to get Chris Rock's take on the whole thing in a month.
Back on Monday with the countdown!!
