Award Season 2015

[transformers2]

I genuinely don't think the lack of nominations for black-led movies the past two years is a race-related thing. Everyone knows that the Academy likes to award certain types of film and films like Creed and Straight Outta Compton don't fit their well-established mold. The Academy isn't afraid to honor biopics and sports dramas from time to time, but the "controversial" content of N.W.A.'s music and Creed's status as a Rocky spinoff knocked them out of contention. The only reason that Stallone got nominated is because no one thought he could act anymore and he's reprising the role that made him famous/got him nominated for an Oscar 40 years ago. The Academy is a stupid, incredibly-biased organization that needs to overhaul the way they assess potential nominees, but I don't think they are racist in the slightest.

[undeadmonkey]

It's sad, I always enjoy the Oscars, but this 'controversy' makes me not even want to watch it. I don't think the academy is racist, I'm sure it was 90% the same voters that voted in 2013 and 2014, when there were black nominees. So they all of a sudden became racist the last two years? Also, let's put it into perspective, how many white people were nominated for best actor or actress at the BET awards last year? I don't see anyone yelling 'boycott' and 'racism' for that.

I also find it pathetic that they waited until yesterday, on a holiday that celebrates one of our greatest American Heroes who actually fought for such issues, to bring about their calls of boycott and racism.

[W]

I also find it pathetic that they waited until yesterday, on a holiday that celebrates one of our greatest American Heroes who actually fought for such issues, to bring about their calls of boycott and racism.

Spike actually quoted MLK in his reasoning.

[BanksIsDaFuture]

It's sad, I always enjoy the Oscars, but this 'controversy' makes me not even want to watch it. I don't think the academy is racist, I'm sure it was 90% the same voters that voted in 2013 and 2014, when there were black nominees. So they all of a sudden became racist the last two years? Also, let's put it into perspective, how many white people were nominated for best actor or actress at the BET awards last year? I don't see anyone yelling 'boycott' and 'racism' for that.

I also find it pathetic that they waited until yesterday, on a holiday that celebrates one of our greatest American Heroes who actually fought for such issues, to bring about their calls of boycott and racism.

Because the Oscars and the BET awards are the same thing

But it is a problem, but like most everyone else has been saying, it's an Academy problem and it's also a Hollywood problem. There just needs to be more roles of substance for black/spanish/minority actors. It's not simply "We're not getting nominated", it's more of "Black/minority actors have to turn in an amazing, career best performance to even warrant a nomination while white actors just show up in movies released in Oscar season and pick up nods with no effort". See: Jennifer Lawrence this year, Christian Bale this year, Rachel McAdams this year, Matt Damon this year, Kate Winslet this year. You watch any of those performances and tell me you're BLOWN AWAY by the acting quality there, I'll fucking eat my hat. Meanwhile, black/minority actors have to be Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years A Slave, or Jamie Foxx in Ray, or Barkhad Abdi in Captain Phillips to even get an iota of recognition.

Other than Denzel getting some love in a soft year, you tell me that last time there's been a minority nomination that people were "Meh" about.

Also, to note, I personally believe Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett both have ulterior motives in their "boycott". I take neither seriously. Spike's pissy that nobody cares about Chi-Raq, and Jada is pissy that Will got passed over.

[transformers2]

It's sad, I always enjoy the Oscars, but this 'controversy' makes me not even want to watch it. I don't think the academy is racist, I'm sure it was 90% the same voters that voted in 2013 and 2014, when there were black nominees. So they all of a sudden became racist the last two years? Also, let's put it into perspective, how many white people were nominated for best actor or actress at the BET awards last year? I don't see anyone yelling 'boycott' and 'racism' for that.

I also find it pathetic that they waited until yesterday, on a holiday that celebrates one of our greatest American Heroes who actually fought for such issues, to bring about their calls of boycott and racism.

Because the Oscars and the BET awards are the same thing

But it is a problem, but like most everyone else has been saying, it's an Academy problem and it's also a Hollywood problem. There just needs to be more roles of substance for black/spanish/minority actors. It's not simply "We're not getting nominated", it's more of "Black/minority actors have to turn in an amazing, career best performance to even warrant a nomination while white actors just show up in movies released in Oscar season and pick up nods with no effort". See: Jennifer Lawrence this year, Christian Bale this year, Rachel McAdams this year, Matt Damon this year, Kate Winslet this year. You watch any of those performances and tell me you're BLOWN AWAY by the acting quality there, I'll fucking eat my hat. Meanwhile, black/minority actors have to be Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years A Slave, or Jamie Foxx in Ray, or Barkhad Abdi in Captain Phillips to even get an iota of recognition.

Other than Denzel getting some love in a soft year, you tell me that last time there's been a minority nomination that people were "Meh" about.

Also, to note, I personally believe Spike Lee and Jada Pinkett both have ulterior motives in their "boycott". I take neither seriously. Spike's pissy that nobody cares about Chi-Raq, and Jada is pissy that Will got passed over.

I actually thought Jennifer Lawrence was incredible in Joy, but you nailed it otherwise.

[JohnErle]

Other than Denzel getting some love in a soft year, you tell me that last time there's been a minority nomination that people were "Meh" about.

Penelope Cruz won an Oscar for an incredibly meh performance in Vicky Christina Barcelona, and Javier Bardem got nominated for a Spanish-language film no one saw.

[Chienfantome]

Other than Denzel getting some love in a soft year, you tell me that last time there's been a minority nomination that people were "Meh" about.

I'd say Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happiness, a film and a performance that no one remembers. But that's just for the sake of nitpicking because I quite agree with you.

[undeadmonkey]

Because the Oscars and the BET awards are the same thing

That's not the point, it's a double standard. If there would be any white actors calling for a boycott of the BET awards, they would be labeled racist and taken out of town before you could blink.

As you mentioned, these two calling for boycotts are just looking after their own agenda, But now everyone else has jumped on the bandwagon. It's just getting old and if people truly cared, where have the boycotts been for the last ten years. When's the last time someone Asian has been nominated, last one I remember is the girl from Babel. However, that's kinda racist too, we can't just lump all Asians into one, we should nominate one Korean, one Japanese, one Chinese. Plus if we want to be fair, we must nominate a muslim, a jew, latin, south African, Spanish, plus, we're not all just white either, to be fair, let's nominate an American, a French man, a Russian, oh and a german and the list goes on.

While the casting issues are more complex, I also don't agree you can just label them racist and be done with it. A few years ago when everyone was lamenting about the end of the Box Office stars, Will Smith had his choice of roles and every movie he was in hit blockbuster status. Now he's not at the top of the food chain and all of a sudden Hollywood is racist again.

It mostly just sucks for the nominees and eventual winners, as even the academy president basically told them, 'oh you guys did fine work, but the only reason you're getting this is because we live in a racist society'. So whoever wins, they'll have to go up and accept the award apologetically and call for more diversity otherwise they will be implicated with the 'racism' tag as well.

[JohnErle]

It makes no sense to pull one or two years out of context and claim that they prove anything, just like it was silly to look at the year Denzel Washington and Halle Berry both won and pretend equality had been achieved.

I did some quick number crunching, and over the last 10 years there were 26 out of a possible 200 acting nominations that went to people of colour, and there were 7 wins out of a possible 40. That's 13% and 17.5% respectively, which is a bit low compared to the demographics of the United States, but a huge improvement over where the Academy was 20 or 30 years ago.

If people are going to complain every time there's no representation in a given year, what they're really complaining about is a lack of tokenism.

[numbersix]

The point is that it isn't the Oscars that are to blame, it's the industry in general for not begin colour-blind enough to cast non-white actors in regular roles. I've heard so many stories about non-white actors struggling outside of the usual cliches (e.g. black gangsters), unless it's specifically about issues relating to colour. I think the change has to come within the casting process, from directors, producers, casting agents etc. The more diversity you see at that level, the more diversity you'll probably see at facile awards.

[Buscemi]

So, The Big Short won the PGA awards and now everyone's calling it the favorite just because of the ballots the PGA use being similar to the Oscar ballots. I'm not buying that claim as these same people claimed American Hustle would win Best Picture two years ago because of the ballots (it didn't win the PGA award, but still). It seems like people are forgetting that it's been an also-ran throughout much of award season (failing to win much of the more notable early awards such as the Golden Globes and the Critic's Choice Awards) and if it wins, it would be the worst reviewed Best Picture winner since Crash (using Rotten Tomatoes ratings since there's go back further). Also, this seems like the kind of movie the PGA (rich people making money off the poor and middle class) would vote for. I still say Spotlight wins.

Anyway, I got into a flame war on Facebook over this with one of Mateostarr's contacts. First, he trashed Mateostarr over not liking the film. Then, I told him history doesn't favor The Big Short. And then he said I had bad taste because I don't think The Big Short deserves all the awards and questioned his logic (I pointed out errors by mentioning the other guilds outside of the PGA haven't agreed every year and that guilds represented by just one profession aren't a very good source). I think I shut him down when I called him a Paramount shill.

So, why do I think Spotlight holds on (other than the Critic's Choice win)? Producers aren't the only voters. While the producers go for their movie, I think the actors and writers vote for Spotlight, the directors take The Martian or The Revenant, the technical people select The Martian or Mad Max, the left-leaning take Spotlight, the right-leaning take The Martian, and the independent of thought who just want happy endings select Spotlight or The Martian. That makes the top four (based on the argument that pundits are using) of most any order Spotlight, The Martian, The Revenant, and Mad Max. The usual movie winning awards vs. the blockbuster battle. The Big Short sneaks in at third at best.

[W]

If I could get odds next year's Oscars already I'd go with this: http://deadline.com/2016/01/birth-of-a- ... 201690343/

There's a very good chance that they decide to majorly overcorrect next year.

[Buscemi]

Well, they are under pressure again. And since Fox got it (even though Netflix offered more money), you may be right.

[JohnErle]

If I could get odds next year's Oscars already I'd go with this: http://deadline.com/2016/01/birth-of-a- ... 201690343/

There's a very good chance that they decide to majorly overcorrect next year.

The sad thing is, the movie will have an asterix after its name if it does win now.

Thanks to all the #OscarsSoWhite nonsense, any non-white actor, director, or film that scores a nomination will make people wonder if the voters thought it was truly deserving, or if they just wanted to avoid another PR headache. Same goes for the next female director to score a nomination.

[Buscemi]

Related to next year's Oscars, some other movies that could be big contenders are Loving (if Nichols has it ready in time), LBJ (assuming it gets a distributor), The Founder (the Michael Keaton as Ray Kroc film), Robert Zemeckis's World War II film, and whatever else Fox has coming (The Greatest Showman on Earth would have gotten some awards had it not been pushed back a year).