By NATALIE SACKET
Feature Editor
The most highly anticipated event of cinema is rapidly approaching, and with it comes a slew of controversial discussions.
With the announcement of the nominations for the 2016 Oscars, one similarity between the nominees became abundantly apparent: the nominees were all Caucasian. For the second year in a row, not one actor of color is a nominee for the Oscars.
Immediately, the Oscars came under fire, particularly because films with black leads were prominient films in theaters this year, including “Straight Outta Compton” and “Creed.” The hashtag #OscarsSoWhite began to accompany discussions of this year’s academy awards. Hollywood began to incessantly question the Academy Awards, holding them accountable for the lack of diversity in their nominees. Many individuals, including Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett Smith, began to announce that this year they would be boycotting the Oscars.
As a result, the Academy Awards has announced that in the future, they will ensure there will be more diversity in their Oscar membership. In doing this, they hope to increase diversity not only in the number of Oscar nominees, but in the board as well. The academy’s president, Cheryl Boone Isaacs, said, “The academy is going to lead and not wait for the industry to catch up.” What she says highlights the deeper issue behind the lack of diversity in the Oscars.
The issue goes a bit deeper than the Academy Awards. In looking at the prominent films of 2015, a small percentage had diverse actors in lead roles. It appears as though the issue does not solely lie with the Academy Awards, but rather the whole realm of cinema. However, Hollywood has made significant strides in past decades and hopes to continually improve.