The beginning of every year marks the start of award events such as the Globe Awards, the Oscars, and the Grammys. The purpose of these awards is to appreciate the different actors, films, directors and other institutions in the movie industry, especially those that shone in the previous year. However, the Oscars Awards 2016 portrayed a major issue facing the minor races in the film industry: racism. Despite the big blockbuster movies that featured A-list black Americans such as Will Smith and Idris Elba, none received a nomination for the best actor/actress. It led to a study by major magazines that showed previous African American winners received supporting role awards in films that portrayed slavery or African stories. As a way of airing their grievances, none of the A-list African Americans turned up for the awards bringing out the credibility of the awards as choosing to shine glory on people who played diminished roles.
Despite the huge roles and success in the film industry, Will Smith has never won any Oscar but has two previous nominations in 2002 and 2007. Last year, he featured in a film/bibliography, Concussion, in which he plays the role of a Nigerian forensic pathologist who questions the effects of American football, the National Football League, on its players (Figure 1). In the movie, he discovers a chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which was common in most of the star players. In his bid to bring out the truth about the disease, the NFL officials tend to outshine him by laying false claims. The movie is truly emotional and one that stood to receive an award in the Oscars. However, he failed to receive a nomination to the Oscars though it received one from Golden Globes.
Figure 1
However, Concussion is not the only movie that stood out in the year 2015 and lacked an award. Straight Outta Compton, a movie that follows the lives of Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E and other members of NWA was a major hit in 2015. It brings out the growth of Hip Hop culture from Compton’s mean streets and how the main actors changed from illegal business to revolutionizing America through music. The movie surpassed many box office films at the time of its release and made $24.1 million on the first night of release. Analysts and journalists speculated the movie to receive major nominations from the top awards such as Golden Globe and Oscar Awards though it received none. Other major films that featured black actors are Creed and Beasts of No Nation.
Examining the previous Oscar awards worn by black Americans reveals a trend on how the organizers pick their nominees and winners. Black American actors who won awards for leading roles started in films that either portrayed the fight for equal rights or African war stories. Don Cheadle, who won the best Actor in 2004 for his leading role in Hotel Rwanda, featured the struggle of a hotel manager in housing refugees during Rwanda’s genocide period (Figure 3). Denzel Washington won received his first nomination for the role of Malcolm X in Malcolm X (Figure 4). He is the only actor to receive four nominations as a lead actor and two as a supporting actor. Forest Whitaker won the 2006 best actor award for his role in The Last King of Scotland as Idi Amin (Figure 5). What stands outs in these film nominations and awards is that the actors won because the films featured suffering and dictatorship. These stands out as the key features in the nominations of black actors and actresses in the Oscar Awards.
The Oscar Award nomination is one of the avenues where subliminal racism is present. USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism conducted a study on the top 500 grossing films between 2007 and 2012 in the United States. The study had more than 20,000 characters, which include lead actors/actresses and supporting roles. 10.8 percent of them were blacks, 5 percent were from Asian races, 4.2 percent were from Hispanic races, and 3.6 were from other selective ethnicities. The white actors composed of 76.3 percent; a huge number despite the film industry growth across the centuries. The figure shows the lack of support by major film companies in supporting films made by other races. It is a major problem for upcoming filmmakers and scriptwriters as the opportunities present are less if they come from other ethnic groups. The study also shows that more than 44 percent of the cinema tickets sold in the United States is from non-Caucasians. Despite their underestimation in the film industry, the marginalized communities continue to support the films made by most of the whites.
In conclusion, the film industry will not continue to grow if the marginalized communities do not receive equal treatment in the roles played in major movies. The classification policy by major awards such as the Oscars will kill the film competition. Racism still stands out as a major issue in the United States and the best way to end it is by changing the motives.
Works Cited
Gray, Tim. Academy Nominates All White Actors for Second Year in Row. 14 January 2016. Web. 15 February 2016. <http://variety.com/2016/biz/news/oscar-nominations-2016-diversity-white-1201674903/>
McDermott, Maeve. Will Smith Joins Oscars Boycott: 'It's Going In The Wrong Direction'. 21 January 2016. Web. 15 February 2016. <http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2016/01/21/will-smith-joins-wife-jada-pinkett-smith-oscars-boycott/79107316/>
Rizor, Vadim. New Study Puts Numbers To The Lack Of Minority Representation In Film. 06 November 2013. Web. 15 February 2016. <https://thedissolve.com/news/847-new-study-finds-minority-representation-lacking-in/>
