Have the Oscars become more diverse?

Last year around this time of the year a certain hashtag had become very prominent in social media. The award season had just started, Leo DiCaprio had won the Golden Globe for his performance in The Revenant and then the Oscar nominees were released. What’s the problem, some might think, but the problem was that not one single person of colour had been nominated for an Oscar. Not. One. The hashtag that emerged in the aftermath was #OscarsSoWhite. It had actually been around for longer but last year it was used a lot.

A lot of people kept saying maybe it was because those white actors were just “better at acting”. But it obviously isn’t as simple as that. When Viola Davis received an Emmy for her role as Annalise Keating in How To Get Away With Murder she held a powerful speech.

The only thing that separates women of colour from anyone else is opportunity. You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.

Of course, the same applies to the Oscars.

So, last week the Oscar nominees of 2017 were announced and you know what happened this time? SIX actors and actresses of colour are nominated in the acting categories (seven if you include Dev Patel). This happened because studios and directors finally decided to make movies about and with people of colour. This is a big and very important step for Hollywood.

The New York Times said “But the academy also moved past two #OscarsSoWhite years by honoring six black actors — a record — and including diverse films like “Moonlight,” “Fences” and “Hidden Figures” in the best picture race.” but did it really move past? By taking a closer look at the other 20 categories you will see that most of the nominees are actually white and male. So I guess, they didn’t really move past the hashtag and past nominating mainly white men. But as Viola Davis said, opportunity still separates a lot of people from others.