Summary: Citing the absence of people of color in all four acting categories for the second year in a row, director Spike Lee and actress Jada Pinkett Smith announced that they would be boycotting the Oscars. If other prominent entertainment industry figures join the boycott and large numbers of African American viewers tune out , it could possibly ruin the event and put a dent in the Oscars ratings.
Analysis: I had already posted about Jada's announcement on facebook before reading about this in the article and I'm glad that more prominent members of the black community are boycotting the Oscars because in the time since we had to boycott and protest for things such as diversity over 50 years during the civil rights movement, there is obviously still the same issues going on today. This is a deep rooted problem in America. To synthesis to the periods we have already talked about, blacks were excluded from many things just as we are being excluded in this award show. We weren't allowed to do many simple things out of fear of backlash such as taking positions of power or even something as simple as voting. The progress that has been made since then has been slow and even the award show acknowledges this. If we can't diversify something as simple as nominations in an award show, then what does it show about the current state of the rest of the country in other fields besides the film industry. It shows that we need to do the same thing as Jada Pinkett Smith and Spike Lee and possible more.
Source: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-spike-lee-to-boycott-oscars-html-20160118-htmlstory.html
I think it is imporant to remember all groups during award ceremonies, especially in a case like this where more groups are needed to be represented through film.
ReplyDelete