This year, the papers have been full of pundits reporting the negative buzz about the lack of diversity in this year’s Oscar nominees.
What rule says everything we do in this country has to be racially and ethnically balanced?
The population of the United States is 72.4% white (of which 16.4% are Hispanic or Latino), 12.6% black, 4.8% Asian, and the balance Other.
The members of the Screen Actor’s Guild (SAG), the organization in charge of Oscar nominations and voting, match the demographics of the United States. SAG has a nominating committee of 2100 and the full membership of 165,000 are eligible to vote for their peers.
Barry Levinson said in Variety, “It is impossible to pass through a single awards season without hearing, ‘Huh? How could so and so not be nominated?’ There is outrage yearly. And it has nothing to do with race. It is the strangeness of the voters’ taste, the process, or the simple fact that voting for the best in any area of filmmaking isn’t a science. We only have to look at last year’s Oscar winners: 12 Years a Slave won for Best Picture, the supporting actress, Lupita Nyong’o, from that same movie won, as did the screenwriter John Ridley, who is also of color. Those wins were voted on by the same group of voters who, this year, are accused of being racist, and too old, and too white.”
When I think about it, I’ve dated, lived with, or married, Greek, Italian, German, Jewish, Black, and Chinese Americans – never thinking it necessary to balance the racial diversity of the men in my life. As in life, I think we should all just let the best man, or woman, win.