BY NINA LARBI ’22
The award show season has just wrapped up for this year, with the Academy Awards rounding out as the finale. Award shows naturally inspire disappointment, spurring a plethora of “biggest snubs and winners” articles and heated debates. However, with the excitement of the awards, this year’s persistent lack of diversity went almost unnoticed.
Jordan Peele’s “Us” wasn’t nominated, Lulu Wang was snubbed in the director category and “Hustlers” was completely shut out. Lack of diversity was apparent across all recent awards shows, including the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTAs) and the Grammys. #OscarsSoWhite trended five years ago and largely nothing has been done. Awards shows will never become more diverse, so why are we watching them?
After #OscarsSoWhite trended in 2015, institutions sought to create more diversity. All the Academy seemed to manage to do was hire actors of color to present the awards and nominate films like “Green Book” — an accurate and self-serving portrayal of racism — as their diverse film of the year.
The BAFTAs announced that, beginning in 2019, films that weren’t diverse would not be able to be nominated for awards. They also changed voting body rules, removing the requirement that new voters be recommended by two existing members, and reducing voting terms to ten years, renewable providing that the individual was still active in the industry. But what is the point of diversity initiatives if they yield no diversity? Not a single person of color was nominated in the acting categories for the BAFTAs this year.
Award shows are inarguably for the rich and powerful of the entertainment industries. Nominees, voters and the companies that sponsor such events all exist within the same echelon of society. This year, nominees for Best Actor/Actress, Best Supporting Actor/Actress and Best Director categories went home with gift bags valued at $225 thousand, including golden vape pens, a 12-day cruise and a $25 thousand plastic surgery coupon, at the same show in which “Parasite” won four awards. As great as “Parasite” was, the message didn’t get across to its rich audience. Award shows don’t celebrate great media, they just serve as an occasion for rich people to pat each other on the back.
Some rich nominees and winners did protest this year. Joaquin Phoenix, winner of the Best Actor BAFTA award for his role in “Joker,” called the lack of diversity out in his acceptance speech, stating that the awards system is sending “a clear message to people of color that you’re not welcome here.”
Natalie Portman showed up to the Oscars in a dress with the names of snubbed female directors discreetly embroidered on the sides. Tyler, the Creator called his nomination at the Grammy awards in the “rap and urban category ... a politically correct way to say the N-word.”
Actors and musicians are calling out the system, but that’s not enough. If Natalie Portman didn’t like that Greta Gerwig wasn’t nominated, she could have just not gone to the show instead of sewing people’s names in 10 point font on the sides of her dress.
Nominees and winners probably genuinely want change but not at the cost of their status. Natalie Portman can protest sexism while wearing Dior, a brand with a questionable supply chain whose idea of environmental activism is to import trees to use as decoration for a fashion show. Tyler, the Creator can call out racism while owning a streetwear brand with $130 sweaters. The aspect of class is missing from their protests, and though both Portman and Tyler, the Creator suffer from the prejudice they are criticizing, they are still taking part in the larger system of inequality through their class and their presence at award shows.
The divide between those onscreen and those watching is salient. Those onscreen, clad in designer gowns and jewelry, belong to the top 10 percent of American society, while everyone else is at home.
As a viewer and a woman of color, I can’t relate to Jessie Reyez’s speech about how there needs to be more women of color nominated at the Grammys. I’m not a rich pop star. Although I would like to see more women of color represented in the media, watching the industry criticize themselves on a Sunday does not satisfy that desire, nor does it make my experiences of prejudice go away.
The best way to protest something is to refuse to partake in it. As important as media visibility is for minority groups, we are not going to encourage change by willingly partaking in award shows. The media we consume should reflect the demographics of the people. We have been speaking out about it for years, and the entertainment industry does not care. So why should we pay attention to their spectacle? If we stop watching award shows, they lose their legitimacy among the consuming public.