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<\/a>The best picture winner, \u201cMoonlight,\u201d was a story about a young gay African American male and his search for understanding. It is the first LGBT film to ever receive the top honors.<\/p>\n
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J. Paul Johnson, a professor of film studies at Winona State, said while the film\u2019s win is a significant moment for the Oscars, this is not the first time a shift has seemingly occurred.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe might, of course, celebrate the fact that a film, an artistic, aesthetically significant film could examine a young black male\u2019s search for definition of his own masculinity and sexuality,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cOn the other hand, there have been other moments in history where people may have thought we were on the cusp of a watershed moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bailey said diversity issues stem from two main sections: The lack of drive from those not affected, and lack of accessibility.<\/p>\n
Shifting an industry takes unilateral effort, Bailey said, and that change won\u2019t occur without having everyone involve. It also involves bringing new artists to the forefront, but for many artists those opportunities either are nonexistent or overly difficult to achieve.<\/p>\n
Accessibility for these creators is integral to the future of the industry, Bailey said. When an industry shows itself as unequal, some marginalized creators will see it as too difficult to enter and stop trying, she added.<\/p>\n
Mary Jo Klinker, a professor of women\u2019s and gender studies at Winona State, argued the inherent white male centricity of the industry leads to the continuation of diversity issues.<\/p>\n
In any narrative art form, a large part of the writing stems from the artist\u2019s life experiences. While there are always going to be outliers, the lack of diverse writers and creators leads to less diverse stories, Klinker said.<\/p>\n
In a study titled “Inclusion or Invisibility? Comprehensive Annenberg Report on Diversity in Entertainment,” research at the University of Southern California found 21.8 percent of leading characters in films were of an underrepresented race. In terms of creators, it\u2019s even smaller: Only 12.7 percent of film directors were underrepresented.<\/p>\n
The gender disparity occurs en masse at the creation level. According to San Diego State’s Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, women made up seven percent of all directors on the top 250 highest grossing films for 2016. In 2015, that proportion was at nine percent.<\/p>\n \u201cWhose stories are told? Who gets to tell these stories?\u201d Klinker said. We live in what feminist scholar and media critic Bell Hooks refers to as a \u2018white supremacist capitalist patriarchy,\u2019 when films are produced in this culture, it often reflects those values.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson said Hollywood\u2019s problems with those values stem back to the beginning.<\/p>\n \u201cThe history of Hollywood is very much one of people of privilege and means creating depictions of others as lesser, as evil, as savage, as perverted, as sissies, etc,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThey are, at the same time, reflections of broader cultural thinkings and assumptions about those groups as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Films are products of their time and culture in most cases, Johnson said, which is why diversity problems often come to the forefront. Even in the early days of cinema, when directors like D.W. Griffith were making major advancements to the medium, virulent racism was a common occurrence.<\/p>\n \u201cIt should be no surprise when films do represent and exhibit traits of their cultures including both positive and negative ones like inherent racism and prejudice,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n This, Klinker said, leads to the oft-cited \u201cwhite savior\u201d trope, involving a white character who arrives to save a marginalized people. Released last week, \u201cMarvel\u2019s Iron Fist\u201d was criticized for that exact trope, with a white main character who becomes the guardian and hero of a Himalayan monastery.<\/p>\n In regards to casting choices, Bailey said, the most important aspect to consider is the theme of the film itself.<\/p>\n As a theater major, Bailey has worked on multiple shows during her time at Winona State University. According to her, plays are often easier for casting due to their universal nature. There are exceptions, like the black-oriented story of \u201cFences,\u201d but for the most part these stories can be shifted to accommodate different races. As long as the casting doesn\u2019t take away from any other group of people, then the question of justifiability can be ignored, she said.<\/p>\n Movies, Bailey said, are a bit more complicated.<\/p>\n \u201cA movie is so often going to be specifically about a direct atmosphere in regards to who the plot is about,\u201d she said. \u201cMore often than not movies aren\u2019t universal so it is important to pay attention to who you\u2019re casting.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGhost in the Shell\u201d is a recent film that has met with intense backlash. Starring Scarlett Johansson, the film is an American adaptation of the 1995 animated film by Mamoru Oshii. The original film and subsequent TV series were set in a futuristic cyberpunk version of Japan involves a counter-cyberterrorism group led by Major Motoko Kusanagi.<\/p>\n Johansson plays Major in the new adaptation, which has resulted in backlash on social media. Many protesters argue casting a white actor in a role that was originally Japanese ruins the themes of the original story, and while there hasn\u2019t been as much backlash in Japan, Klinker said it is an indicator of a larger problem.<\/p>\n \u201cA media term that is helpful for understanding this issue is \u201csymbolic annihilation,\u201d which is a way of upholding social inequality by misrepresenting or erasing a group of people in the media,\u201d Klinker said.<\/p>\n Symbolic annihilation weaves its way into filmmaking in a number of forms, Klinker said. Whitewashing is the most predominant, where a white actor or actress is cast in a minority role. \u201cDoctor Strange\u201d and \u201cMarvel\u2019s Iron Fist\u201d both were met with harsh criticism in this regard, placing white actors into roles that were either originally Asian or based on Asian culture.<\/p>\n Some other forms include \u201ccrip drag,\u201d which involves placing an able-bodied actor into disabled roles, and ciswashing, or having cisgender \u2013 those who identify as their original gender \u2013 actors play transgender roles.<\/p>\n \u201cFor this reason, I think it\u2019s important to hear what marginalized communities have to say about this casting and the way it impacts access to see themselves in cultural productions and media, which dictates a large portion of our social views,\u201d Klinker said.<\/p>\n A few of the more problematic depictions Bailey described included the angry black woman, unstable relationships between persons of color and disabled character used as plot devices for the main character\u2019s progression.<\/p>\n Money has always been a driving aspect of the film industry, which leads to occasionally problematic casting and narratives.<\/p>\n \u201cFilms are simultaneously aesthetic and economic ventures, and filmmakers need to take into consideration the box office draw of their actors in the films as they create and pitch in order to secure funding for their films,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n Bailey said while money is something to take into account, studios should begin to take risks on unproven actors of color. According to Bailey, letting those actors grow in their art will lead to more diverse plots and films overall.<\/p>\n Klinker made a similar point, suggesting the industry must change to accommodate more people and more sources for stories. By allowing people with diverse experiences to get into the industry, more of those narratives will be told.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is financially prohibitive for most people to tell their stories, which ensures further symbolic annihilation. The success of \u201cHidden Figures\u201d made clear that audiences want to hear these stories,\u201d Klinker said.<\/p>\n \u201cHidden Figures\u201d tells the story of three African-American women mathematicians who helped NASA get astronauts into space in the early days of the United States space program. The film was both a commercial and critical success, with a box office gross of over $206.1 million.<\/p>\n Both \u201cHidden Figures\u201d and \u201cMoonlight\u201d performed well during the awards circuit, culminating in a best picture win for the latter.<\/p>\n While it failed to win awards at last month\u2019s show, \u201cHidden Figures\u201d had one of the more prominent and important sections of the broadcast. The cast of the film brought out one of the mathematicians the film was based on, to rousing applause.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was a year of many firsts for the Oscars; however, a number of representations are still erased. Few films with Asian American and Latino casts were nominated.,\u201d Klinker said. \u201cThe Black\/White binary of racial representations in Hollywood further impacts racial erasure in media.\u201c<\/p>\n Bailey also discussed the black\/white binary in the film industry, but added that the focus is justified to a degree.<\/p>\n \u201cRight now, in regards to paying attention to marginalized people, a lot of our attention is appropriately on black people,\u201d Bailey said. \u201c\u2018Moonlight\u2019 was something that had to win in order for us to continue thinking of other groups when we think of marginalized groups.\u201d \u201cCurrent US budget proposals put art last in priorities,\u201d Klinker said, \u201cThis will impact who can be an artist, who has access to art, and thereby impact film culture too.\u201d<\/p>\n Johnson echoed this sentiment, adding that no single moment is enough to show full progress. Progress takes time, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s hope that\u2019s the case, that these successes make Hollywood executives realize that there is probably a wider prospect for marketability in films like these than they might have previously thought,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cBut like I said, we\u2019ll just have to wait and see.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 89th Academy Awards, which took place on Feb. 27, 2017, were one of the most diverse in history. Breaking multiple records, including the amount of black Oscar winners and the first Muslim actor win, the show is being hailed as a huge step forward for Hollywood diversity. \u201cCompared to last year, it\u2019s such a … Continue reading Academy Awards Shift Toward Diversity<\/span> <\/a><\/a><\/a>
\nThough the Oscars were a high point for many diversity movements, Klinker said it is not to be taken as a trend quite yet. According to Klinker, the government itself will have an impact on film diversity.<\/p>\n