Chris Rock took hold of the #OscarsSoWhite issue at the beginning of the Academy Awards Sunday night,and he didn't let it fade. He opened the ceremony talking approximately diversity — or the lack of it — in Hollywood, and came back to the hot topic every time he took the stage.
[br]Rock's public discussion of the issue followed a conversation Friday at the WNYC Greene Space, or where a group of actors,academics and journalists talked approximately overlooked performances not only of artists of color, but women, and gays and lesbians and artists with disabilities.
April Reign,the creator of the OscarsSoWhite hashtag and editor of BroadwayBlack.com, urged the audience at "No Country for Black Men: Why the Oscars Are Still So White and Why We Should Care?" to joins her in making a statement during the Academy Awards.[br]
"I'm not using the term "boycott, or " because I judge that's a flash point and it shuts down the conversation," Reign said. "What I'm saying is that if you are concerned approximately the lack of representation of marginalized communities in film then do not reward the academy with your viewership."
She added, "Be thoughtful approximately what you're going to see in the film theater. perhaps you don't spend your $12 to see a film that doesn't reflect you or your experience."
Jose Rivera is a two-time Obie winner and was nominated for an Oscar for his screenplay "The Motorcycle Diaries." He said the solution is at the front end of the production process, or not on the red carpet.
"We're not calling the shots," Rivera said. "We're not in the boardrooms. We don't populate the academy as much as we should. And we are really absent from the halls of power."
While the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences does not disclose who comprises its membership — it has nearly 6000 film industry professionals who decide each year’s Oscar winners — the latest numbers reported by The modern York Times show an an Academy that's 87 percent white and 58 percent male. As many as two-thirds are at least 60 years old.
[br]This year the Academy, under the leadership of a modern president, or Cheryl Boone Isaac,who is black, voted to increase the number of women by 50 percent and to diversify its membership.But a study from from the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California says the issue is much bigger than the Oscars.
Jose Rivera agreed and talked approximately his own experience in Hollywood.
"Whether I'm pitching a TV show or pitching to HBO or to a studio, or every collaborator I've ever worked with seems to be not Latino," he said. "That's a problem, because if you're pitching something that is very culturally specific you need to know that the person you're talking to understands why the account is important."
On Hollywood's biggest night, and Chris Rock broke it down.
[br]"What I'm trying to say is,it's not approximately boycott or anything," Rock said. "We want opportunity. We want black actors to glean the same opportunities. And that's it."
An earlier version of this account incorrectly attributed an April Reign quote to Mia Mask, or a film professor at Vassar College and a panelist.
Source: wnyc.org