Oscar Rant 2016

Over the last few days I’ve let the Oscar nominations settle and collected my thoughts together in a fashion that can only be described as one of my most rambley-rants ever. Might as well jump right in:

First and foremost #OscarsSOWhite

Hello, people who might as well be the same individuals aging over their lifetimes! You all look so….so….white today. Is this 2016? Maybe not…I thought it was.

Look, they all deserve to be nominated, well, I’m assuming since I haven’t seen every single movie but I’ve seen enough to know there are people on this list who I believe SHOULD be on this list. Cate Blanchett, Eddie Redmayne, Leo, sure but he should’ve been nominated for Gangs of New York and Catch Me If You Can way back in the day, but I digress. There are others who should be on this list, too, who aren’t and not surprisingly, they aren’t white. *coughs* Idris Elba and Michael B Jordan *coughs*

It frustrates me because this means getting from that list of “Should be Nominated” to “Actually Nominated” obviously has a “must be white” clause attached to it. This isn’t news, though. If this was the first time in recent memory this happened with the Oscars, I’d brush it off and give another chance for next year’s crowd. But it’s not the first time and this is now two years in a row of utter bullshit.

It’s this kind of nonsense that keeps the list of Latin@ and Asian actors/directors to the tiniest list imaginable. Seriously…go ahead and name a few. A few is all you’ll get. I’m exhausted with seeing white people given all the roles and even more so white people in roles that should be for PoC (ex. Emma Stone in Aloha). There are plenty of talented actors waiting for their chance to shine who totally could make it if the roles meant for them weren’t given to whites all the time. But again…this is nothing new.

Another gripe I have is with the fact that genre fic movies are very rarely considered for Best Picture or Best Director. They get pushed to special effects or sound mixing categories as if the content of the movie itself is somehow unworthy because it’s speculative in nature. I’m very pleased to see Mad Max and The Martian on the list of nominees because those films were incredible but come on. They have 10 slots these days for Best Picture and Star Wars didn’t get in with 2 slots unused? Yet, The Big Short gets the nom which is a total white guy wank fest. Maybe I’m biased there, but it feels like an insult to speculative movies and I’m a little hurt.

I’m generally disillusioned with Hollywood anyway. They keep making sequels and spin offs and prequels and reboots and I’m so sick of it. There are so many incredible stories out there to be told and they can’t seem to stretch their imagination to the fact that stories outside of the usual straight, white, cis-man might sell. OH LET’S JUST REMIND YOU ABOUT A LITTLE THING CALLED STAR WARS THE FORCE AWAKENS. OR MAD MAX. OR THE BLACK WIDOW MOVIE EVERYONE WOULD WATCH THE SHIT OUT OF. Every type of story sells. Every type of story has an audience.

I am seriously going down a rabbit hole here but I’m also so done with how they showcase the stories of people of color and people within the lgbt community. If you haven’t noticed the pattern yet, this is it: people of color are shown in sports movies, cultural based comedies, period pieces, and somehow being saved by white people. Queer folk are in coming out movies, or movies where they are killed. So there’s that, too. All of these types of movies have their merit…in ways…but when they’re the only depictions of these groups it ends up creating this harmful stereotype that it’s the only place they belong. That those are the only movies they can be in and thus the only character an actor can be nominated for.

Side-note: I’m enjoying all the LGBT love lately in movies, but…like…how about having queer actors play those parts. Kthanks.

Other side-note: The reboots I am in favor of have been putting more women in leading roles which is excellent. New Ghostbusters, New Ocean’s 11. Yes, please! What about an all PoC cast for something! Or a group of rainbow friends!

Back to my ramble, if Hollywood produced more diverse movies, no one would think they were “unusual” or “pandering” or meant for “certain” people. They would just be movies–for everyone. And then there wouldn’t be irrational worry about how they will perform at the theater because people are going to watch a good movie, not count how many straight dudes they can pick out of a line up. And nominations for the Oscars will be for who gave the best performance, not for being able to flash the white card.

Yes, I’m an optimist…idealist…whatever you want to call it. And yeah, there will always be racist, homophobic, transphobic haters. But…

This is likely not the most eloquent collection of my thoughts, or the best way to express them, but I’m tired of it all. Honestly, I hope Chris Rock tears the crap out of the Academy during his monologue. They deserve it. Maybe that’ll help the Academy to remember to nominated the people who deserve it, too.

/end rant

\back to your regularly scheduled book program