The Academy Board of Governors Just Saved Hollywood

On Thursday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences’ board of governors unanimously approved to end lifetime voting rights for members. This comes on the heels of a second straight year for the Oscars where all twenty acting nominees are white. It doesn’t require a genius-level intellect to connect the dots here: the board of governors’ move is a thinly-veiled attempt to force out the Academy’s tenured, largely white establishment, and bring a more diverse constituency to the table. Surprising no one, many whites (and Stacey Dash) are upset. Oscar nominee for Actress in a Leading Role Charlotte Rampling cites this move as “racist towards whites.” Yeah, she said that. Not to be outdone, other people are saying dumb things, including Julie Delpy and Michael Caine (and Stacey Dash). I won’t link to those comments here, because *shrugs*.

Funny enough, for a period of roughly 24 hours, I was one of those people. It was frustrating to me that changing the voting bloc was seen as the ONLY way to ensure more nonwhites won statuettes. There was something very cynical in regards to the notion white voters are incapable of rewarding great work done by those who don’t look like them. Furthermore, I adopted a modified version of this common argument: “the roles aren’t there for blacks.” “If accomplished African-American actors can’t land Oscar-caliber roles” I thought, “then what’s there for the Academy to vote on? Why can’t Hollywood attack this problem throughout the year, rather than belly-aching for six weeks during Oscar season about the lack of recognition bestowed upon 2015's few quality pieces of work centered around African-Americans (namely, STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON and CREED)?”

This was “my take.” Then, I thought some more (a very valuable practice), and realized the board of governors have done exactly what I proposed.

At its heart, nonwhites lack of participation & recognition during “awards season” has been a chicken-and-egg scenario. It goes something like this:

1. Nonwhite actors/directors fail to receive nominations during awards season.
2. The studios/producers who bankroll Oscar-bait films throughout the year (and pay large amounts for “For Your Consideration” ads in Hollywood trade publications) decide nonwhite actors/directors aren’t a good investment if your goal is to fill your office with Oscars. They opt to play it safe.
3. Another year goes by where every “Oscar-caliber” film features the same actors, playing similar roles in similar locales, with similar themes.
4. Return to Step 1.

As long as there is only one demographic to please in pursuit of end-of-season awards, studios will continue to tell the stories proven to be lauded by those people. Albert Burneko wrote about this extensively for Deadspin, and I highly recommend you read it. His main point, re: the Oscars:

…what it (the Academy) does is give trophies to industry insiders who make mediocre, respectably-dressed middlebrow studio films grooved to flatter a certain privileged, blithely liberal-ish sensibility shared by their peers.

It is THIS sensibility the Academy’s board of governors struck a direct blow against on Thursday, whether they intended to or not. With a more diverse constituency, Oscar-hunting studios will find themselves forced to step outside of their well-traveled comfort zones, and produce films that aren’t solely aimed towards a single group they know exactly how to please.

This is more than just “black actors.” This is about getting more people with different perspectives into the conversation. I’m confident this will lead to better movies (which is really the primary effect we — the filmgoing public — should be concerned with). As pleasant of a film as SPOTLIGHT is, Boston Globe reporters aren’t the ONLY brave people walking the Earth. I’d love to see more movies about those folks, even if they don’t look like Mark Ruffalo or Rachel McAdams. Or, perhaps two hours devoted to the struggles of indigenous peoples, rather than just having them “honored” by the white male lead actor of a predominantly-white film during his Golden Globes acceptance speech. Perhaps (and hear me out here), instead of watching Jennifer Lawrence persevere despite being young, blonde, attractive, and exceedingly competent, David O. Russell will be obliged to tell someone else’s “against all odds” story. Just for one year. Stacey Dash, perhaps?

Obviously, opponents of the board’s move consider this to be problematic. Why should hardw0rking white Hollywood professionals lose their seat at the table to satisfy some austere play towards #diversity? Make no mistake: This line of logic is patently flawed, as diversity in Hollywood (or anywhere else, for that matter) isn’t about shutting anyone out. That’s the opposite of the meaning of the word. Right now, some young Asian screenwriter has the PERFECT thing written for Robert de Niro, but that kid can’t get a meeting, so we’re left with DIRTY GRANDPA. Furthermore, it’s puzzling that Rampling hasn’t once considered that maybe, just maaaaybe, she wouldn’t be getting her first Oscar nod at the age of 69 if her talents were able to be utilized by a more diverse set of filmmakers over the years. This sort of racial tribalism makes “prestige Hollywood” look old and staid, especially when compared to summer tentpole movie season, which now bathes in diversity upon determining that Asians, blacks, hispanics, and women also possess $15.50 in discretionary spending.

Note: tentpole season didn’t change overnight, and it wasn’t out of the goodness of producers’ hearts. Simply enough, their constituency became more diverse. In this case, the “voting bloc” is just people who like to go into a cool movie theater during the hot summer and watch stuff blow up (which isn’t exactly a racially-definable trait). In order to satisfy the shifting audience, they shifted course. This is what the board of governors is attempting to replicate.

A broader constituency of Academy voters means greater uncertainty come Oscar balloting. Greater uncertainty means more risks taken by studios. More risks means more movies that step out there and actually say something, even if it means possibly alienating a few people. Daring pictures that lead viewers to form actual opinions outside of “it was okay, I guess”? What madness! With this move, the Academy board of governors may well usher in a new Golden Age of Hollywood, almost completely by accident.

Or, at the very least, they’ll have created more opportunities for Stacey Dash.