Quotas for the Oscars?

Yet again, there is uproar in the U.S. Uproar is even more pronounced if it is suspected that discrimination is behind it, which, in the United States, happens extraordinarily quickly. You can see this as a good thing, as a sign of an increased level of sensitivity, which ensures that discrimination is no longer acceptable, but that would be naïve. The reason for it has much more to do with the media. Observers eagerly look into every possible event to see if there is any controversy hidden within. The clamor for the public’s fast-moving attention in hard-fought competition with the daily scandal generators detracts, above all, from those who endeavor to bring real injustice to light.

No Prizes for Civil Rights

The controversy surrounding the Oscars was ignited by the film “Selma” which, 50 years after the historic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, pays tribute to civil rights activists and, above all, to Martin Luther King. The film received just two nominations. In addition, almost as scandalous is the fact that it was nominated in the Best Picture category, yet the African-American director, Ava DuVernay, was left empty-handed. That DuVernay is highly talented goes without saying, as she has received numerous awards and nominations from other organizations, both for “Selma” and for her earlier works. After all, the producers did allocate her a $20 million budget. Other directors, who also left empty-handed, can also make similar claims. Why, then, is DuVernay due an Oscar nomination? In order to fill a quota, which, thank God, doesn’t exist?

The overwhelming majority of the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which, among other things, awards the Oscars are old, white men. If this is the case, we can let that go — how should they be in a position to overcome their racial prejudices? The stupid thing is that they keep doing it. For example, last year “12 Years a Slave” won Oscars in three categories — and one of those was Best Picture — and was nominated in six others. In the year before, “Django Unchained” scooped up two Oscars and three nominations. In 2011, “The Help” was awarded one Oscar and two nominations. These three films shed light on the darkest chapters of (black) American history. They did so in very different ways, but always in an extraordinarily creative and stirring manner — essential elements of the magic of cinema.

Suspicion has arisen that “Selma” should, therefore, have received more Oscar nominations because it honors such an important chapter of the civil rights movement and Martin Luther King, who was such an important figure in the movement. Of course, there can be no question that the Oscars are not civil rights awards. They are awards for outstanding achievement in the American film industry. Practically, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences unites everything that is noteworthy within it. As the name suggests, the film industry is first and foremost a business. In this line of business, idealism is almost as pronounced as it is in American professional sport.

Keeping Quiet Is Better than Spouting Gibberish

In Cheryl Bone, a businesswoman in the marketing field who was manager of the public relations branch of her firm for over 20 years, the Academy now has its first black woman as its president. She knows how to respond to criticism and has gone on record to say that she will work to ensure the Academy makes a more marked effort to promote minority groups, be they ethnic minorities, such as African-Americans, Hispanic-Americans and Asian-Americans, or women. It is reported that, in the last two years under her leadership, considerable steps have already been taken to make the organization more widely diverse by recruiting new members. As 94 percent of members were Caucasian and almost 80 percent were male, according to 2012’s figures, it is possible to work out in just which decade a more balanced membership could become reality.

If the Academy is serious in its intentions, it simply has to look to sport to see how it’s done. Broadening the core of members and leadership is honorable, but it should, above all, be finding ways to discover new talent among minority groups and promote them. If the film industry, like professional sports or music, could become a way for young men and women to break free of their plight, nobody would have to be concerned by the lack of diversity among those who win awards — you just have to look at the podium at a sports event.