The conversation of diversity has become such a BLACK and WHITE issue in America that everyone else (Asian, Latino, Native American, Middle Eastern) has almost, practically been left out of the discussion.
In the USA, Black and White rule the conversation of diversity so much that we forget ALL the other colors of the rainbow even exist.
Point in case, this year many members of the black community have RIGHTFULLY protested the Oscars and are RIGHTFULLY supporting a boycott against the Oscars for the lack of representation against "people of color". This is a good thing, and I support it 100%. However, I will ask those same people who are clamoring for more diversity - where were you EVERY single year that no Asians, Native Americans, Middle Eastern and/or Latinos actors were nominated?? Where were you all those years, where were you then?
If your definition of diversity is that YOUR community is not represented and you speak up loudly then, but keep quiet when others are not represented, then you are NOT actually talking about 100% diversity. Instead, you are only talking about your group's representation, and that's not the definition of genuine diversity.
Diversity is defined as "a range of different things”. In other words, even if black and white actors are represented 50/50 that is still not actual diversity.
Black and White is the polarity of 2 opposites. Everyone else, specially those in the middle, is left out in such a polar based conversation. Diversity is when ALL colors (even all ages, all religions, all sexual orientations, all economic classes, all physical abilities and disabilities) are discussed and represented. That is true range and true diversity. Black and white represented on a 50/50 basis and percentage is not true diversity. Think what you will, but it is actually NOT diversity or any type of true range.
During this conversation of black being left out of the 2016 Oscars, how come we also don’t hear as much about Brown, Red and Yellow being left out too? Actually, those communities of color have been continually left out way much more in Hollywood -- and this has been going on since the beginning of movies and film.
Please, can we take an in-depth look at this and how we talk about diversity in the United States of America, and in Hollywood?
Look at these numbers: Across 100 top-grossing films of 2012, only 10.8 percent of speaking characters are Black, 4.2 percent are Hispanic, 5 percent are Asian, and 3.6 percent are from other (or mixed race) ethnicities. These representation rates don’t correlate with who’s buying tickets. As a point of comparison, a full 44 percent of movie tickets sold domestically were purchased in 2012 by non-Caucasians, an USC study notes… 26 percent of tickets were sold to Latinos, 11 percent to African Americans and 7 percent to people from other ethnicities. Using these MPAA purchasing percentages, Latinos are the most underrepresented group on screen.
Additionally, Latinas are more likely than women of any other ethnicity to appear partially or totally naked on screen.
Looking to the relationship between the director and the content created was also informative. When a White director helmed a movie, 21.4% of characters on screen were from statistically underrepresented communities. When a director of color was behind the camera, 49.7% of characters were from statistically underrepresented communities.
Except, a director's race/ethnicity increased the likelihood of including on screen characters from the same racial/ethnic group. What does this mean?
When a Black director helmed the picture, over half of all characters in the promotional materials were Black characters (57.6%). But when Hispanics were at the helm of a movie, only 22.1% of characters analyzed were Latino. Asian directors had 27.5% of characters who were Asian in the film. Similarly high matching percentages were found for Middle Eastern directors of Sundance fare.
This means that Asian, Latino and Middle Eastern filmmakers do not tend to over represent their own community in a film over other communities. Asian, Latino and Middle Eastern filmmakers tend to be the most diverse storytellers, and they tend to represent black and white characters as much as their own characters. Where as, Black and White filmmakers mainly tend to only highlight their own communities and their own stories.
Only five Latino actors have won Oscars: José Ferrer, Anthony Quinn (twice), Rita Moreno, Mercedes Ruehl (whose mother is Irish and Cuban) and Benicio Del Toro. Similarly, only three actors of Asian descent have won the award: Miyoshi Umeki, Haing S. Ngor, and Ben Kingsley (whose father was Indian). And as for Native Americans, can anyone name any Native Americans who have won an Academy Award, anyone?
TV shows on the broadcast networks had 78 percent white characters, 12 percent black characters, 5 percent Asian characters and 4 percent Latino characters. Note: Native Americans are continually left out of the conversation of representation on TV. Middle Eastern actors also don't fare much better in Hollywood.
This is NOT just about lack of representation for black people.. this is about lack of representation for ALL people of color and how each one of us must not only represent our own group. If White filmmakers need to be more diverse… then so do black filmmakers. If you’re a black filmmaker and you make a film about black people… you’re not being diverse. You’re only showing yourself. Same goes for everyone else.
Unfortunately, the entertainment business is so competitive that no one wants to open it up to new people and new ranges of diversity for fear of being displaced themselves. Or in more direct terms, the fear factor of diversity is not only a white/non-white issue.
In one study it was pointed out that African Americans were hesitant to advocate on behalf of Latinos for fear of losing their hard-fought yet still limited access. “There is a fear of black displacement because blacks had been standing in for all diversity until now”, said one producer of color in this study. To the extent that inclusion is largely understood as racial and gender labels, these labels tend to reinforce intra-group solidarity. Meaning, it makes coalition-building difficult with other minorities because you want to keep what you've gained for yourself and for your group.
Black actors RIGHTFULLY must be represented more… but this goes beyond black and white. Oscar diversity is more than a black and white issue.
It's widely known that the Academy Awards failed to nominate a single nonwhite actor in 2016 (or 2015, for that matter). Though that discussion has largely focused on the exclusion of black actors, the Academy Awards' record has a serious dearth of any type of diversity. Perhaps part of the problem is because we haven't upheld the true definition of diversity, which means representing ALL.
Articles I quoted from:
1) http://mashable.com/2016/01/20/oscars-diversity-2016/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-link#cRDSPj4Y.aqd
2) https://thedissolve.com/news/847-new-study-finds-minority-representation-lacking-in/
3) https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/less-than-5percent-of-actors-in-top-films-are-hispanic-new-study-finds/2014/08/06/5be9b224-1be7-11e4-82f9-2cd6fa8da5c4_story.html
4) http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/21/opinions/sanchez-academy-awards-diversity-problem/
5) This is the USC Study: http://annenberg.usc.edu/pages/~/media/MDSCI/Racial%20Inequality%20in%20Film%202007-2013%20Final.ashx
6) MPAA study: http://www.mpaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/MPAA-Theatrical-Market-Sta_tistics-2014.pdf
7) http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5549deace4b0d0dbb4ff6aee/t/555cef81e4b0758cc854dc23/1432153985653/Latino_Media_Gap_Report.pdf
EXTRA BONUS -- FOR FUN - look at the true history behind the Academy Awards' Oscar statuette: http://www.studio360.org/story/oscars-real-name-is-emilio/
In the USA, Black and White rule the conversation of diversity so much that we forget ALL the other colors of the rainbow even exist.
Point in case, this year many members of the black community have RIGHTFULLY protested the Oscars and are RIGHTFULLY supporting a boycott against the Oscars for the lack of representation against "people of color". This is a good thing, and I support it 100%. However, I will ask those same people who are clamoring for more diversity - where were you EVERY single year that no Asians, Native Americans, Middle Eastern and/or Latinos actors were nominated?? Where were you all those years, where were you then?
If your definition of diversity is that YOUR community is not represented and you speak up loudly then, but keep quiet when others are not represented, then you are NOT actually talking about 100% diversity. Instead, you are only talking about your group's representation, and that's not the definition of genuine diversity.
Diversity is defined as "a range of different things”. In other words, even if black and white actors are represented 50/50 that is still not actual diversity.
Black and White is the polarity of 2 opposites. Everyone else, specially those in the middle, is left out in such a polar based conversation. Diversity is when ALL colors (even all ages, all religions, all sexual orientations, all economic classes, all physical abilities and disabilities) are discussed and represented. That is true range and true diversity. Black and white represented on a 50/50 basis and percentage is not true diversity. Think what you will, but it is actually NOT diversity or any type of true range.
During this conversation of black being left out of the 2016 Oscars, how come we also don’t hear as much about Brown, Red and Yellow being left out too? Actually, those communities of color have been continually left out way much more in Hollywood -- and this has been going on since the beginning of movies and film.
Please, can we take an in-depth look at this and how we talk about diversity in the United States of America, and in Hollywood?
Look at these numbers: Across 100 top-grossing films of 2012, only 10.8 percent of speaking characters are Black, 4.2 percent are Hispanic, 5 percent are Asian, and 3.6 percent are from other (or mixed race) ethnicities. These representation rates don’t correlate with who’s buying tickets. As a point of comparison, a full 44 percent of movie tickets sold domestically were purchased in 2012 by non-Caucasians, an USC study notes… 26 percent of tickets were sold to Latinos, 11 percent to African Americans and 7 percent to people from other ethnicities. Using these MPAA purchasing percentages, Latinos are the most underrepresented group on screen.
Additionally, Latinas are more likely than women of any other ethnicity to appear partially or totally naked on screen.
Looking to the relationship between the director and the content created was also informative. When a White director helmed a movie, 21.4% of characters on screen were from statistically underrepresented communities. When a director of color was behind the camera, 49.7% of characters were from statistically underrepresented communities.
Except, a director's race/ethnicity increased the likelihood of including on screen characters from the same racial/ethnic group. What does this mean?
When a Black director helmed the picture, over half of all characters in the promotional materials were Black characters (57.6%). But when Hispanics were at the helm of a movie, only 22.1% of characters analyzed were Latino. Asian directors had 27.5% of characters who were Asian in the film. Similarly high matching percentages were found for Middle Eastern directors of Sundance fare.
This means that Asian, Latino and Middle Eastern filmmakers do not tend to over represent their own community in a film over other communities. Asian, Latino and Middle Eastern filmmakers tend to be the most diverse storytellers, and they tend to represent black and white characters as much as their own characters. Where as, Black and White filmmakers mainly tend to only highlight their own communities and their own stories.
Only five Latino actors have won Oscars: José Ferrer, Anthony Quinn (twice), Rita Moreno, Mercedes Ruehl (whose mother is Irish and Cuban) and Benicio Del Toro. Similarly, only three actors of Asian descent have won the award: Miyoshi Umeki, Haing S. Ngor, and Ben Kingsley (whose father was Indian). And as for Native Americans, can anyone name any Native Americans who have won an Academy Award, anyone?
TV shows on the broadcast networks had 78 percent white characters, 12 percent black characters, 5 percent Asian characters and 4 percent Latino characters. Note: Native Americans are continually left out of the conversation of representation on TV. Middle Eastern actors also don't fare much better in Hollywood.
This is NOT just about lack of representation for black people.. this is about lack of representation for ALL people of color and how each one of us must not only represent our own group. If White filmmakers need to be more diverse… then so do black filmmakers. If you’re a black filmmaker and you make a film about black people… you’re not being diverse. You’re only showing yourself. Same goes for everyone else.
Unfortunately, the entertainment business is so competitive that no one wants to open it up to new people and new ranges of diversity for fear of being displaced themselves. Or in more direct terms, the fear factor of diversity is not only a white/non-white issue.
In one study it was pointed out that African Americans were hesitant to advocate on behalf of Latinos for fear of losing their hard-fought yet still limited access. “There is a fear of black displacement because blacks had been standing in for all diversity until now”, said one producer of color in this study. To the extent that inclusion is largely understood as racial and gender labels, these labels tend to reinforce intra-group solidarity. Meaning, it makes coalition-building difficult with other minorities because you want to keep what you've gained for yourself and for your group.
Black actors RIGHTFULLY must be represented more… but this goes beyond black and white. Oscar diversity is more than a black and white issue.
It's widely known that the Academy Awards failed to nominate a single nonwhite actor in 2016 (or 2015, for that matter). Though that discussion has largely focused on the exclusion of black actors, the Academy Awards' record has a serious dearth of any type of diversity. Perhaps part of the problem is because we haven't upheld the true definition of diversity, which means representing ALL.
Articles I quoted from:
1) http://mashable.com/2016/01/20/oscars-diversity-2016/?utm_cid=mash-com-fb-main-link#cRDSPj4Y.aqd
2) https://thedissolve.com/news/847-new-study-finds-minority-representation-lacking-in/
3) https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/less-than-5percent-of-actors-in-top-films-are-hispanic-new-study-finds/2014/08/06/5be9b224-1be7-11e4-82f9-2cd6fa8da5c4_story.html
4) http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/21/opinions/sanchez-academy-awards-diversity-problem/
5) This is the USC Study: http://annenberg.usc.edu/pages/~/media/MDSCI/Racial%20Inequality%20in%20Film%202007-2013%20Final.ashx
6) MPAA study: http://www.mpaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/MPAA-Theatrical-Market-Sta_tistics-2014.pdf
7) http://static1.squarespace.com/static/5549deace4b0d0dbb4ff6aee/t/555cef81e4b0758cc854dc23/1432153985653/Latino_Media_Gap_Report.pdf
EXTRA BONUS -- FOR FUN - look at the true history behind the Academy Awards' Oscar statuette: http://www.studio360.org/story/oscars-real-name-is-emilio/