Why Hollywood Needs to Change Its Views on Minorities

Throughout film history, Hollywood has always favored the white masculine figure. Whether it is behind the camera or in front of it, minorities and women have always had to be reduced to portray minor roles that help strengthen the position of the white masculine figure. Aside from this, the roles minorities and women have received have almost always been racialized and/or sexualized in attempts to reduce them to one-dimensional characters. These problems have been around since the start of the film industry and I believe it is time for Hollywood to change its ways and innovate to the views of today’s society. When I talk about innovation, I mean for the film industry to change its ways. For Hollywood to alter its views and stop producing films solely for economic purposes with no consideration of its negative portrayals. To take into account the views of the millions of minorities who live in the United States and want to see their own race be portrayed in a positive manner on film. We are currently living in an innovative world with new advances every day in science, technology, art, and culture. Because of this, I am proposing for Hollywood to change these stereotypes about minorities and women not just for actors, but also for directors, writers, or anyone who feels underrepresented in this industry. When given the chance, minorities have proved to bring new fresh ideas and have captured the attention of not only the United States, but also the world. Minorities have a lot to bring and I believe it’s about time that Hollywood recognizes them as being able to contribute to this industry that helps shape the way we view society.

But the question is where does the problem start? After doing research about this topic, I found out many interesting facts regarding this issue. At first I believed the problem was with the minorities themselves. I believed they weren’t seeking out better roles and ultimately didn’t care about what they were portraying as long as they got paid to do it. Turns out I was completely wrong about this idea. In an article I read from Lily Rothman titled The Hidden Factor in Hollywood’s Racial Diversity Problem, I discovered that the root of the problem was with the agencies that support these actors. In a nutshell, minorities are usually represented through smaller agencies and therefore are most likely to receive minor roles. Directors usually want top agencies to supply them with actors and the people who are usually in these top agencies are white men. This then becomes an on-going cycle that never stops. The people behind these top agencies are white and because of this, they only want to hire white men and so on and so on. This is the same in many aspects of the film industry. The Academy for example, who decides which films and which actors should receive awards, is mostly made up of elderly white men. This is a huge problem since these men choose the films that tend to win awards, and these men are used to a predominantly white America, and therefore might not find stories about minorities award worthy. And this will continue to stay the same unless a more diverse group of people is chosen to be part of the Academy. The problem is with getting them into the Academy. There are a few ways to become a part of the Academy:

1. Candidates must be sponsored by two Academy members from the branch to which the candidate seeks admission.

2. If you have been nominated for an Academy Award, you are automatically considered for membership and do not require sponsors.

Under these guidelines, it is almost impossible for minorities to be part of the Academy because they are almost never nominated or because they don’t have the support from people inside the Academy. White actors support other white actors; white directors support other white directors and so on. The most recent Academy Awards further exemplify this idea. We are supposed to be a diverse nation and not a single actor/actress nominated this year was a minority. Some argue that it is because all these actors who were nominated played their roles exceptionally and I agree with that, but you can’t ignore the fact that some minorities deserved to be nominated as well. The most obvious example would be Selma, the long awaited film about Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, focusing on the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. When first released, the film generated top reviews with many expecting the film to be a top contender for awards season. When the nominees were announced however, Selma only received two Oscar nods, one for Best Picture and the other for Best Original Song. What happened to a nomination for Ava DuVernay for Best Director? What happened to a nomination for David Oyelowo for his portrayal of Dr. King? Even if they weren’t clear winners, they should have at least been nominated for their outstanding performances, on and off camera.

But why are these views engraved into America’s society? In order to find this out, we must look into the history of film in the United States. With the help of documentaries titled Ethnic Notions and Mickey Mouse Monopoly, I was able to trace the deep-rooted stereotypes and racism we see in today’s films. The film Ethnic Notions takes the viewer on a journey through American history to reveal prejudices not only on film, but also in society as a whole. The director shows us images that ridiculed and dehumanized African-Americans. Some examples of this included Loyal Toms, carefree Sambos, faithful Mammies, grinning Coons, savage Brutes, and wide-eyed Pickaninnies. These images were carefully constructed in cartoons, films, songs, advertisements, folklore, and even in children’s rhymes. Because of this, society quickly adapted to this idea that minorities should always be represented in these ways and that is one of the reasons why it is almost normal for minorities to portray these roles in today’s society.

Although images of African-Americans have changed throughout history, they still only seem to favor white men. Before slavery had become illegal, African-Americans were viewed as inferior but yet friendly, whose sole purpose was to serve their masters. After slavery had become illegal however, the same African-Americans were now viewed as savages and animals that weren’t good for anything. The problem is that children start to get these ideas about the world we live in since a very young age through animated films. Most of the Disney films, although entertaining, are very problematic.

The Beauty and the Beast, for example, shows a woman in an abusive relationship. The Beast locks her up, yells at her, abuses her father, and all this is okay because underneath that Beast is a prince charming waiting to appear. Most of the Disney films that contain princesses all follow this same guideline of obtaining the white male hero. Snow White and Aurora literally need to be saved by a kiss from the hero, Ariel is willing to give up her voice, and even Mulan who was supposed to be a new kind of heroine even returns to the same views of women. She saved China only to return home to her family who were far more interested in her obtaining the strong masculine man who went after her. Although these images aren’t fully shown in the media today, the film industry has still managed to send the same messages it has sent throughout history by using tropes to portray the characters minorities do.

Tropes have been used for such a long time that they are now common in films; they can be described as a common or overused theme and vary according to the race one is describing. Some tropes for minorities include the Latin Lover, the Angry Black, the Nerdy Asian, and the Spicy Latina among many others. While some may critique my opinions by saying the film industry is changing to better show the views of minorities, I still differ and I will explain why. Over the past years, we have seen great films with minorities in the lead roles. Some examples include Fruitvale Station, The Help, The Butler, 12 Years a Slave, Selma, Cesar Chavez, McFarland, USA, and Beasts of the Southern Wild to name a few. All these films have received outstanding reviews and appraise from society as well as from people within the industry. Even I have to admit I enjoyed watching all of these. The problem with this is that all of these films give out the same message to society, that the only lead roles minorities can strive for and be successful in are the ones that deal with true events or their rebellion against slavery/oppression in a predominantly white America. To further help the point I’m trying to make, I will include the views of a successful African American actor in Hollywood, Chris Rock. Chris Rock, in an interview by The Hollywood Reporter, stated that it is extremely hard to make it as an actor in Hollywood. He says that Blacks as well as other minorities are never even given an opportunity to show their potential. And even when they are given opportunities, people don’t let them be innovative and instead just put them in the same stereotypical roles. And that is the problem with the industry. Why aren’t minorities even being considered to play lead roles that don’t deal with racism? Why couldn’t Tyrese or Gael Garcia Bernal be considered to play the role of Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey? The fact is minorities should and need to be considered for any role.

But does all this really matter? Am I being too critical on an aspect that has been normal for almost a century? I believe the answer is no. Innovating the film industry is so much more than just helping minorities and women. Innovating the film industry would create unlimited possibilities for new ideas; it would strengthen the US economy, and it would change the views of society in the United States for the better. The last two Academy Awards have shown two Mexican directors win back-to-back awards for their outstanding and creative innovations in film. Both Gravity and Birdman were extremely risky film projects, and both Alfonso Cuaron and Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu proved that when given the chance, they would make the most of it. Even television has begun to follow in these tiny footsteps with TV shows such as Jane the Virgin and Transgender. The truth is that the United States is a country with an immense diverse population and in recent studies done by USC and the NPR; it has been shown that Blacks and Latinos buy more movie tickets than their white counterparts. Now imagine how much more money the film industry would make if these minorities could relate more to the characters that are being shown on film. Society has begun to take baby steps in the right direction. We are now living in a world where both minorities and the majority have become united to seek equal rights for everyone, disregarding a person’s gender, sex, class, or race. I believe it is time for the film industry to innovate and catch up to 2015.