Boycotting the Oscars

[soccerdad72]

As a white man who's never worked in Hollywood, I guess I have nothing to say on the topic...

Oh wait, one comment - I hate these award shows in general. Nothing more than a room filled with overpaid egomaniacs patting each other on the backs.

 

[AnnaFloridaLover]

As a white man who's never worked in Hollywood, I guess I have nothing to say on the topic...

Oh wait, one comment - I hate these award shows in general. Nothing more than a room filled with overpaid egomaniacs patting each other on the backs.

I think you need to be "Old" as well. It completes the package.

They don't so much pat each other on the backs, it's more that actors/celebrities worship the exclusive ground they walk on. Hence the red carpet. Oscar = Nobel Peace Prize.

 

[minnie mum]

Were either JPS OR Spike Lee nominated this year? No? Then why would I give a flying rats butt if they boycott the Oscars?

Is the Academy supposed to implement a mandatory quota system to ensure sufficient minority representation within every category from now on? Let's just throw that old level of excellence thing out the window. As long as there's a Hispanic, SouthAsian, Asian, Middle Eastern, and black nominee, then everything will be totally fine.

 

[asta]

Kind of a side note. I don't know about the time of Hugh Glass & Jim Bridger, but in later years there were a LOT of black cowboys. And that is something you don't see a lot of on film.

That is interesting. You are right, you never see them on film. I was not aware there was ever a large amount of black Cowboys. When did their numbers grow in the west? Was it before or after the civil war?

As a side note, after watching The Revenant I am not sure why anyone would choose to live in those conditions. So much snow, ice and incredible hardship. It looked like the filming conditions were so miserable that you could argue that they deserve awards for that alone. I think the suffering portrayed by DiCaprio was well done and does deserve the Oscar. I did not see anything else this year that compares.

 

[soccerdad72]

I think you need to be "Old" as well. It completes the package.

You calling me old? I'm middle aged!

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I do work in Hollywood in the industry, and I 100% agree with you. One year you could make the coincidence argument, but year after year after year people of color are left out of the major awards. That's not a coincidence.



That's absolutely not true. Just because most of the major movies are male lead DOES NOT equal that they are a bigger draw than women lead movies. Look at The Hunger Games, one of the biggest series of the last few years. A young adult series lead by a woman has been a bigger draw over the last few years than most male lead movies. It's not that female lead movies are not as much of a draw, it's that they are not MADE as much.

The point was in reference to specific actors being a draw. People don't line up in droves just to see Jennifer Lawrence, but at one time they certainly did for Tom Cruise, Mel Gibson, etc.

 

[Imzadi]

Honest question because we havent seen alot of movies recently. Do you honestly think that any of the actors of colour that people are discussing deserve to be on the list more than those on it? Because that I guess is the real question, not did Will Smith do a good enough job that he deserves to be recognize but did he do better than another actor that they did include?

Finally! 4 pages and 64 posts before the question I was thinking of even came up. Since there are only 5 nominees for each category, except Best Picture, which now has 10, I think,) the inference is that one or some of each actor/actress category did NOT deserve to be nominated and a minority actor should have been nominated INSTEAD of white actor/actress. But, WHO should that be?

This is kind of like going back to the days of "Equal Opportunity Employment," where a certain quota of minorities MUST be considered & hired.

But, if Blacks (or any other minority) only made 2%-ish of the movies in Hollywood, does that movie or the actors HAVE to be nominated? What if their movie or their performance really wasn't WORTHY?

Maybe there should be a separate "Minority/Diversity" Award UNTIL the statistics even out a more?

Lupita Nyong'o won two years ago. Yet, she didn't even get a mention here till Page 4. BTW, she didn't even LOOK like herself in Star Wars. Was that racist? I had to watch it twice to figure out which one character she was.

And nobody has mentioned the fact that that outside of the BET Awards and other Black Awards, who naturally have black hosts, the Oscars HAVE had their award show hosted by a SINGLE host, FIVE times already with a black host. Whoopi Goldberg x4 and Chris Rock will be doing it a second time, totaling 6 times this show will be single-hosted by a Black. It has also been co-hosted in the past by Richard Pryor (x2), Sammy Davis Jr. (x2), and Diana Ross, which makes a total of 11 times this "white show" has had black (co-)hosts.

An a different, positive note for diversity: The Oscars have had openly gay hosts, Ellen DeGeneres (x2) and Neil Patrick Harris host.

And the Oscars have had two hosts from Australia: Paul Hogan & Hugh Jackman. Not, that there is anything wrong with the land from down under. Let's just use this as a moment to think of Hugh Jackman for a moment.

 

[AnnaFloridaLover]

You calling me old? I'm middle aged!

Hey! I resemble that remark. Sadly. But at least I'm a woman so I've one upped you there.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

That is interesting. You are right, you never see them on film. I was not aware there was ever a large amount of black Cowboys. When did their numbers grow in the west? Was it before or after the civil war?

As a side note, after watching The Revenant I am not sure why anyone would choose to live in those conditions. So much snow, ice and incredible hardship. It looked like the filming conditions were so miserable that you could argue that they deserve awards for that alone. I think the suffering portrayed by DiCaprio was well done and does deserve the Oscar. I did not see anything else this year that compares.

I'm not sure about pre war, but there were a lot post war. And that was kind of the "heyday" for the cowboy with cattle being driven up from TX into the plains, as well as the drives to market.

 

[maxiesmom]

If you just look at the financial numbers, for example, the folks who wrote, produced, and directed "Straight Outta Compton" are laughing all the way to the bank. Here are worldwide gross totals for that movie compared with the others that were nominated this year for Best Picture (data according to http://www.the-numbers.com/).

• Straight Outta Compton - $201M
• Big Short - $61M
• Bridge of Spies - $157M
• Brooklyn - $32M
• Mad Max Fury Road - $373M
• Martian - $611M
• Revenant - $152M
• Room - $5.9M
• Spotlight - $31M

And, finally, Will Smith's latest movie:

• Concussion - $33M

Plus another one that's had a lot of press recently:

• Hateful Eight - $83M

So "Straight Outta Compton" must have spoken to the general public because that movie sold more tickets worldwide than 75% of this year's nominees for Best Picture. Ice Cube has a knack for story telling. He does it well in his music and he does it well in his movies, too. "Friday," which he produced back in 1995 was an awesome movie, as were the "Barbershop" movies.

You are assuming "Made a ton of Money" is the same as "Great Acting". I find they rarely go together.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

You are assuming "Made a ton of Money" is the same as "Great Acting". I find they rarely go together.

It was a silly comparison - look at Star Wars.

 

[Imzadi]

If you just look at the financial numbers, for example, the folks who wrote, produced, and directed "Straight Outta Compton" are laughing all the way to the bank.

• Straight Outta Compton - $201M

While the writers & producers may be laughing at the bank, the actors who acted in it, won't be laughing at the bank as they negotiate their next salaries for the films they get cast in. Unfortunately, an Oscar nomination would give them more salary negotiating power and a potential for wider audience movies, than just a straight box office number for one really successful genre movie, will give them. Assuming their performances were of Oscar calibre.

 

[VandVsmama]

You are assuming "Made a ton of Money" is the same as "Great Acting". I find they rarely go together.

I am not assuming that at all. My point of bringing up the $$ totals is to highlight the fact that for the average movie-going person out in the general public, Oscar nominations don't matter. People will go to see movies that are appealing to them. Some movies that make a lot of money have great acting in them. Others don't.

The point that I was trying to make in bringing up the gross totals in ticket sales was to also highlight how that particular movie, which an African-American man produced, made a ton of money AND it was a good movie despite not getting nominated for an Academy Award.

The movie itself doesn't really matter. People went and saw it because NWA was a ground-breaking music group and they pretty much started a huge movement in hip hop music, which permeates American popular culture today.

However, I myself was never a film studies major. Nor am I employed in Hollywood or the film industry. And I don't really care what Hollywood thinks about this topic. They can all boycott the stupid Academy Awards until the cows come home. There's far more interesting things to do for 3-4 hours than watch that.

 

[minnie mum]

Let's just use this as a moment to think of Hugh Jackman for a moment.

OK!

 

[maxiesmom]

I can't help but wonder which actor Jade thinks her hubby should replace.

 

[Imzadi]

And hatred by not including people in the "In Memorium" segment. (yea, I am bitter)

Are they going to have Bowie there? We will see.....

The Oscar's are very political to start with.

Whether David Bowie gets included will also depend on whether he died before this year's "cut off" date for inclusion. The "In Memorium" editor has to be able to start piecing the segments together at some point in time. If Bowie even makes the inclusion for whatever mysterious criteria the Oscars have for inclusion, if he's not it it this year, he will be in it next year.

 

[Sabeking]

I don't work in Hollywood but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn so I think I am qualified to say that we are talking about a group of people (feature film acrors) who love to argue like middle schoolers over who is getting more attention. " I was the best, no I was the best." Whatever happened to personal satisfaction over doing a job well done?

 

[PrincessAbi]

I can't help but wonder which actor Jade thinks her hubby should replace.

Maybe Matt Damon? Or the cis man who was nominated for playing a transgender woman when there are many trans women who could have played the role?

 

[mom2rtk]

I don't work in Hollywood but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn so I think I am qualified to say that we are talking about a group of people (feature film acrors) who love to argue like middle schoolers over who is getting more attention. " I was the best, no I was the best." Whatever happened to personal satisfaction over doing a job well done?

............for many millions of dollars.

 

[sunshinehighway]

It's interesting that the focus here seems to be largely on Will Smith. Yes, other actors and actresses have been mentioned but not nearly as much as Will Smith. I mean it's about the lack of diversity in Hollywood and Will Smith seems to be the only person of color (that's been considered snubbed this year) people think of.
That right there says something about the lack of diversity