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Once again its that time of the year when we all anticipate the pictures and actors who will be nominated for the Academy Awards. Hopeful Actors, Directors, and Producers breathe a sigh of relief upon hearing their film has been nominated. Unfortunately, not everyone will have the pleasure of getting the call and usually, the ones left out are our black Actors, Directors, and Producers. Straight Outta Compton, a movie about rap group NWA, starring a bunch of talented up and coming black Actors and the only ones nominated were the film, white screenwriters. Creed tells the story of the son of Rocky’s perennial foe Apollo Creed and played skillfully by Michael B. Jordan but the Actor nominated was Sylvester Stallone. The # Oscars So White has replaced the hopes of a black Actor receiving an award this year. On February 28, the Academy Awards turns 88, winning films from Wings, 1929 to Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), 2015, there has only been one film produced by a person of African decent, 12 Years a Slave, 2014, to win best picture.
Of the 305 films eligible this year, very few starred or were directed by black filmmakers. Not many films, black or white, are able to past the Academy’s strict standards. Last year’s Oscar nominations received criticism and protest for their lack of diversity and this year is no different. Now I know not every black film or actor is deserving of the honor of being nominated but I must make a case for one man. Idris Elba’s masterful performance, as the commander of child soldiers, in Cary Fukunaga Beast of No Nation, was totally robbed. I’m not taking away anything from the 5 white actors nominated, all fine thespians in their own right. Leonardo Dicaprio The Revenant and odds on favorite to win along with Matt Damon The Martian and Eddie Redmayne The Danish Girl, have all become regulars to the Academy’s nomination process. The fact that Elba recently won the Best Supporting Actor at the SAG awards only helps to underscore #OscarsSoWhite.
The calls for diversity can sometimes be equated with the idea of just including performances that are not up to par just for the sake of inclusion. The Academy’s strict nomination process almost make that impossible. To become a voting member of the Academy an actor must have a minimum of three theatrical feature film credits, in all of which the roles played were scripted roles, one of which was released in the past five years, and all of which are of a caliber that reflects the high standards of the Academy, and/or have been nominated for an Academy Award in one of the acting categories. With these stringent requirements, It’s not hard to see why there are so few black members.
Many people find the exclusion of black actors from the Oscars a problem, but what I find more troubling is the black actors who have won. Hattie McDaniel Gone With the Wind, 1939, was the first black Actor to win for her portrayal Mammy, in a supporting role. Sidney Poitier’s Homer Smith in Lilies of the Field, 1963, garnered him the honor of being the first black Actor to win in a leading role. Of the 15 Oscars awarded to black Actors, few of the characters they portrayed had redeeming qualities. Two Slaves, Lupita Nyongo in Twelve Years a Slave, 2013 and Denzel Washington in Glory. Two Maids, Hattie McDaniel in Gone With the Wind, 1939 and Octavia Spencer in The Help, 2011. A Whore and a con Woman, Hallie Berry in Monster’s Ball, 2001 and Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost, 1990. We round it off with a Crooked cop, a Monster and a Buffoonish African leader represented by Denzel Washington in Training Day, 2001, Monique in Precious, 2009 and Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland, 2006. Although nominated for Best Actor in 1992, for his portrayal of black Nationalist leader Malcolm X in Malcolm X, Denzel Washington lost to Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman, easily one of Pacino’s weakest performances of his illustrious career. So it is not hard to when it comes to Hollywood and the Academy Award sometimes even when we win, we lose.
Hi I’m Melvin Best, founder and director of the Harlem Film Institute. I am an educator, avid film lover and all around nice guy.
Afrikan black folks should create music, television, drama, acting, film awards ceremonies etc. of their own.