Controversy at the Oscars
The academy awards have had their fair share of controversies over the years from white-washing nominees to cutting awards for commercial breaks to handing out the wrong envelopes.
There’s no telling what drama the Oscars will bring each year.
This year, the Oscars found controversy by going without a host, not nominating female directors and of course, Parasite winning the award for best picture.
Hosts
ABC Entertainment President Karey Burke confirmed at the Television Critics Association presentations that 2020 would mark another year that the Oscars decided to go on without a host.
“Together with the Academy, we have decided there will be no traditional host, repeating for us what worked last year,” Burke said.
Previously, Kevin Hart stepped down from hosting the 2019 Oscars following backlash from controversial tweets about the LGBTQ+ community. Although it was rumored they would pick another host, they ultimately decided to move forward without a host for the ceremony. For the first time in 30 years, the Oscars did not have a host. Surprisingly, the show’s ratings went up from previous years.
This year they focused more on award presenters and musical performances as a form of entertainment to keep the show going.
The show will have “huge entertainment values, big musical numbers, comedy and star power,” Burke said. “Our goal is to present the most entertaining show possible, and the producers have already put together a plan for what is going to be very entertaining television.”
Lacking diversity
The conversation of representation and lack of diversity in the industry has come to fall hand-in-hand when talking about the Academy Awards. The white-washed panel judges often choosing white winners for their awards.
In 2016, #OscarsSoWhite took over social media, as the public criticized the massive lack of diversity in not only nominations but the industry as a whole.
After the controversy, the Academy launched its A2020 initiative, to double membership numbers of people of color and women by the end of the year.
The movement, although appreciated by the public, did receive backlash oh how it came to be. Stop motion animator Parker Jahn spoke out on the twitter movement.
“I that that’s ridiculous that a hashtag movement should have to spur, something like that, Jahn said. “I think it should just be obvious to be like, ‘Oh, we should add more, you know, diversity’ and it shouldn’t be something that a hashtag should start.”
Yet in a recent article by the Hollywood Reporter’s Rebecca Keegan and Ben Zauzmer they found that the analytics regarding the makeup and membership of the voting committee of the Academy shows change but not by much.
During the inclusion drive the Academy grew by 35%. In 2015, they had 6,261 members and in 2019 they grew to 8,469 members.
As of five years ago, women made up 25% of the membership and now make up 32%. In 2015, just 8% of the voters were people of color; that number has doubled to 16%.
Executive Director of Women In Film LA, Kirsten Schaffer, said in a statement that “The Academy has made efforts to balance its voting bodies, but gender equality and diversity do not just happen,” her statement continued. “Without deep systemic change in the industry and a real commitment to equity in film finance, distribution, and marketing, this bleak trend will continue.”
Aspiring filmmaker Kadie Clark thinks that the current board isn’t enough to make changes in the industry.
“It’s gonna deter women and people of color and people from different ethnicities to make movies when they could be making great movies that win the next Oscar but they’re not going to because they’re going to get discouraged and that sucks because they have great ideas,” Clark said.
Check out more information about diversity in the industry here
Women
Although this year was incredible for women in the industry, the 2020 Oscars did little to recognize them. There were no women nominated in the category of Best Director and only one film from a female director in the category of Best Picture.
Celebrities were quick to call out the academy before and during the award show. Actress, writer and producer Issa Rae stated her thoughts while announcing the nominees for this year’s Best Director Academy Award nominees back in January, stating “Congratulations to those men.”
A study by USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found that top-grossing films directed by females reached a new high in 2019. They found that 10.6% of the directors were women, which is the highest it had been in 13 years.
While on the red carpet, Natalie Portman wore a black Dior cape embroidered with the last names of eight female filmmakers overlooked by the award show. These names included Hustlers director Lorene Scafaria, The Farewell director Lulu Wang, Little Women director Greta Gerwig, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood director Marielle Heller, Honey Boy director Alma Har’el, Portrait of a Lady on Fire director Celine Sciamma, Atlantics director Mati Diop and Queen & Slim director Melina Matsoukas.
This year 5 men, Bong Joon Ho for Parasite, Sam Mendes for 1917, Todd Phillips for Joker, Martin Scorsese for The Irishman and Quentin Tarantino for Once Upon a Time in Hollywood competed for the award that ultimately went to Bong Joon Ho.
In the 92 year history of the Academy Award show, only 5 women have been nominated for best director. Only one woman, Kathryn Bigelow the director of The Hurt Locker, is the only female director to win the award.
A report by the Women’s Media Center found that of the 19 non-acting Oscar categories only 30% of the nomination went to women this year, which is up from the previous years 25%. They also found that of the 186 total nominees in those categories, 56 were women, 130 were men.
In a press release, WMC co-founder Jane Fonda stated that “The Academy has been taking small steps toward gender parity, but more needs to be done if it is serious about real change.”
Foreign Film
The 2020 Oscars brought a welcomed shock to the best picture nominees when the Korean film Parasite was nominated alongside 1917, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Joker and The Irishman. Early feedback on the nominations thought the film would be at a disadvantage, just by the nature of being foreign in an academy known for lacking diversity.
Knowing America’s aversion to his work, Bong Joon Ho made a comment during his acceptance speech at the Golden Globe awards earlier in the year.
“Once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.”
However, the Academy surprised the public by picking Parasite as the first-ever foreign-language film to win Best Picture at the Oscars. The film won all four categories it was nominated for including Original Screenplay, International Feature Film, Directing and Best Picture. Yet, despite Parasite making history, none of the actors in the film received any nominations.
The foreign film blew up on social media after its win with over 854k mentions on twitter.
However, shortly after the excitement passed negativity came in.
Check out this audio slideshow to hear more about everything said about Parasite's big win.
“A foreign film should be just deserving as all the awards as any American film should be,” Parker Jahn said.
Cinephile Ryan Lewis saw all of the best picture nominees in theaters
“I was really surprised because normally foreign films don’t get nominated for Best Picture let alone win,” Lewis said. “I hope that sets the standard for more foreign films to follow for years to come.”
Parasite winning best picture has inspired many cinema go-ers to check out more foreign films.
If you’re interested in watching more foreign films check out some of my favorite films here
“I’m really glad the Academy is like trying to broaden its horizons and actually include more people but I feel like they still have a long way to go, Lewis said. “they still have some big steps needed take like actually nominating women for Best Director and, including more people of color. As long as they start including more diverse people within the board things are only going to be looking up.”
The Academy Awards have seen their share of controversy this year alone. Yet they claim to aim to be better. Keep an eye out for next year's nominations to see if they stay true to that promise.
If you are looking to plan a fun Oscars Award Show party check out this link!
