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Culture June 30, 2017
For once, can statistics not be depressing?
The day has come, and the Academy is finally incorporating diverse artists into its elite Academy community… kind of.
Variety Magazine has reported that a grand total of 774 new AMPAS members have been invited to the Oscar community, 39 percent of which are female. Even better news, 30 percent of the incoming members are from minority ethnic groups, including members from the cast of the Oscar-winning film “Moonlight.”
You can see the full list of ampas members here (Dwayne the Rock Johnson finally got his time to shine, in case you were wondering).
In addition to that, seven of the Academy departments, including actors and film editors, invited more women than men. And this is awesome in itself. These statistics are in stark contrast to that of 2016, in which the new class was only 28 percent female.
And don’t get us wrong, this is fantastic news. The Academy is very proud of its .00001 percent increase in diversity. Although the president of the Academy is a woman of color, (shoutout to Cheryl Boone Isaacs), this doesn’t necessarily affect the diversity of the Academy as a whole. They still have a long way to go.
Let’s start off with this news: This is the most diversity the Academy has ever included in history. That means the percentages listed above have always been lower up until this point… so that’s not great.
Also, we must acknowledge that the statistics boasted are for the incoming members… not for the Academy as a whole. Unfortunately, those percentages are still pretty bleak. According to Jezebel.com, only 28 percent of the Academy is female, with only 13 percent being people of color.
Even women of color who have been recognized by the Academy are expressing their distaste with these results. Halle Berry recently confessed to Teen Vogue that her 2002 win for “Monster’s Ball” meant nothing, for no women of color had been awarded the same honor since.
“It inspired me to try to get involved in other ways, which is why I want to start directing,” Berry claimed. “I want to start producing more. I want to start making more opportunities for people of color. ”
Berry has the right idea. Let’s hope that she, and other men and women with similar means, can do the same.
