For the second year in a row, not a single black actor received a nomination this year for the Academy Awards ceremony. Are white actors any better than black actors or is the Academy racist? What is keeping perfectly qualified black entertainers from getting any recognition? This deeply cut into the long going conversation about opportunities in entertainment for people of color and inequalities between white and black actors in the entertainment industry. Actress Jada Pinkett-Smith, actor Will Smith, and director Spike Lee boycotted this year’s Oscars because of the lack of diversity in nominations. Many people in the United States today do not see that the lack of people of color nominations as a result of racism. Instead, they accuse the
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In 2015, “Selma” was the only critically acclaimed that had major roles for black actors. Although “Selma” was up for best picture, none of the actors or actresses were up for Best Actor/Actress or Best supporting Actor/Actress. It would be difficult for one to argue that it didn’t receive any nominations because the performances were not strong enough, because it was deemed worthy enough to be nominated for one of the best pictures of the year. This year there were a plethora of critically acclaimed films that had substantial roles for black actors, including; “Dope,” “Concussion,” “Creed,” “Straight Outta Compton,” “Chi-raq,” and“Beasts of No Nation”, but none of the actors were recognized with nominations (Gray 1). Although there were no nominations for black actors, both “Creed” and “Straight Outta Compton” had won an Oscar for the work of white males (Gray 2). Chiara Bercu believes that all of the previously mentioned black films were some of the best made movies in the past year, but they are still being overlooked by the industry, which is prominently ran by older white males. When minority actors do not receive nominations, it puts them at a disadvantage in the industry because of the weight that comes with winning an Oscar. If a new movie is coming out and a main role is cast by someone who had previously won an Oscar, then there is automatically a sense that the film is going to …show more content…
These unfavorable characterizations of black roles, according to Jeannette Dates, “fuel misperceptions and facilitate misunderstandings among racial or cultural groups” (3). Media has a lasting influence on how people perceive different ethnic groups. Audiences use the information the see in entertainment to form opinions about different social groups. When people only base their opinions of different ethnicities based on the screens because of a lack of exposure to direct interaction minorities it causes them to believe these negative portrayals of blacks are accurate depictions of society (Horton 2). Even if most white people know that not all blacks are violent and uneducated based off of the black people they know and interact with, they may believe that the ones they don’t know still display characteristics of these stereotypes (Horton 8). Their misbeliefs cause them to treat blacks in society differently, by either being cautious or scared in their presence (Horton 10). There are far more roles that present blacks in a negative light than in a positive light especially when being compared to the roles that white people play. This misbelief that white is not a true representation of reality. (Horton 2) When Black actors take roles they should be aware of the effect the character will have on society. There
In 2015, “Selma” was the only critically acclaimed that had major roles for black actors. Although “Selma” was up for best picture, none of the actors or actresses were up for Best Actor/Actress or Best supporting Actor/Actress. It would be difficult for one to argue that it didn’t receive any nominations because the performances were not strong enough, because it was deemed worthy enough to be nominated for one of the best pictures of the year. This year there were a plethora of critically acclaimed films that had substantial roles for black actors, including; “Dope,” “Concussion,” “Creed,” “Straight Outta Compton,” “Chi-raq,” and“Beasts of No Nation”, but none of the actors were recognized with nominations (Gray 1). Although there were no nominations for black actors, both “Creed” and “Straight Outta Compton” had won an Oscar for the work of white males (Gray 2). Chiara Bercu believes that all of the previously mentioned black films were some of the best made movies in the past year, but they are still being overlooked by the industry, which is prominently ran by older white males. When minority actors do not receive nominations, it puts them at a disadvantage in the industry because of the weight that comes with winning an Oscar. If a new movie is coming out and a main role is cast by someone who had previously won an Oscar, then there is automatically a sense that the film is going to …show more content…
These unfavorable characterizations of black roles, according to Jeannette Dates, “fuel misperceptions and facilitate misunderstandings among racial or cultural groups” (3). Media has a lasting influence on how people perceive different ethnic groups. Audiences use the information the see in entertainment to form opinions about different social groups. When people only base their opinions of different ethnicities based on the screens because of a lack of exposure to direct interaction minorities it causes them to believe these negative portrayals of blacks are accurate depictions of society (Horton 2). Even if most white people know that not all blacks are violent and uneducated based off of the black people they know and interact with, they may believe that the ones they don’t know still display characteristics of these stereotypes (Horton 8). Their misbeliefs cause them to treat blacks in society differently, by either being cautious or scared in their presence (Horton 10). There are far more roles that present blacks in a negative light than in a positive light especially when being compared to the roles that white people play. This misbelief that white is not a true representation of reality. (Horton 2) When Black actors take roles they should be aware of the effect the character will have on society. There