Hollywooders are whining. We want more – even if we don’t deserve it … We should be given an Oscar even if there are hundreds more ‘qualified’, because hey, don’t we have to be treated like we deserve a trophy even if we lost the game, so our ego won’t deflate. Oh wait, that’s the rhetoric in elementary school. Sorry, I got carried away.
Back to Hollywood. Be careful what Pandora Box you open because you just might find out the truth.
According to researchers at the University of Southern California, of the top 100 films in 2014, gasp, gosh, nearly 75% were white, 12.5% were black, 5.3% were Asian and only 4.9% were Hispanic. The percentage of blacks in the total US population is 12.5% – so actually they were quite fairly and ‘equally’ represented, they just didn’t deserve an Oscar. The group that should be miffed is the Hispanic population, because they are most definitely under-represented by a hefty 12%! Why aren’t they boycotting the Oscar Award Ceremony?
Maybe because they feel privileged instead of entitled. Will Smith? I love you as an actor, but this is just simply petty and quite childish really. Maybe the solution is to have black Oscars, like black television shows, black magazines, and black history, and black yoga, and black housing, and black only restaurants, but wait – we DO! The BET Award for Blacks only. Shouldn’t Whites and Hispanics and Asians protest, maybe they could ignite a class-action lawsuit for racial discrimination…
We can return to segregation or we can work toward integration, it is a process.
Let’s not forget women weren’t allowed to run in the Boston Marathon in 1967… maybe we should boycott Boston forever. Or we could change the name of the Marathon to be more all inclusive – like – The Male-Female-All color inclusive-NonGender bias-Short-Tall-fat-skinny-bolemic-Animal lovers – Religions of all Faith and non-faith – ethnic diversity-Marathon… I’m sure I left somebody out.
Bottom line – there are more critical things to be concerned about than a bunch of Hollywooders whining that they are entitled and want more – more – more! How much money do they make? Let’s see… last I heard Will Smith garnered over $36 million per movie, ranking #7 of the highest paid actors of all time… nah, don’t feel sorry for him.
You’re making a basic mistake I see often when folks write about the Oscars. The Academy Awards are NOT an actual contest, like a game between teams. Things named “best” ARE entirely subjective honorariums. There’s no best anything in art! It’s supposed to be a commercial put on by the film industry, to promote its product. To the degree that it fails to honor any significant segment or flavor, it’s an unsuccessful commercial. If the awards only reflect the preferences of old, white men, it’s bad PR, because they want EVERYONE to buy the product.
Mikey – I agree that the awards are completely ‘subjective’. And I agree that the awards have become more of a fashion magazine, glitz, party event. Over the course of my lifetime I have watched bits and pieces, but never actually sat down and watched an entire evening. I find it boring. As a product, it (the Academy) is always checking market profiling; who is watching, what are their stats, age, gender, race, etc…, and which movies and actors best fit that profile. And thus the awards are calculated to match that audience. So, no they don’t want or need ‘everyone’ to buy the product any more than diapers would be marketed to 30 year old males or cigars are marketed to women. Does that mean women don’t smoke cigars or males don’t wear diapers? No. It is a matter of logistics.