Although last year’s Academy Award’s best picture recognized black filmmaker Steve McQueen for his production of 12 Years a Slave, this year’s nominations are exclusively white. USA Today reporter Bryan Alexander, said for the first time since 1998, “the 20 contenders for lead and supporting actor and actress are all white.” Additionally, no women were nominated for the directing, writing or cinematography categories. After the announcement on January 15th, #OscarsSoWhite became a trending hashtag on Twitter, sparking a national debate on diversity, or in the case of the Oscars, the lack thereof.In reaction to the Oscar nominations, Lanae Harris, a freshman from Riverside, CA, commented, “I think that it’s more than there not being any people of color nominated. It’s that we know there is so much talent in the industry contributed by people of color in more dynamic roles than the help, a slave, or a prison inmate, and it’s going unrecognized. It’s almost as if they didn’t try to hide the fact that we—people of color—don’t matter.” Emery Adona, a freshman from Northern Idaho gave an opinion at almost the opposite side of the spectrum from Harris: “I think all the nominees deserve it, and color had no hold on the Academy’s choices.” Adona’s comment brings up the identity of the nominators. Reports from the Los Angeles Times shed light on this topic. The LA Times found “Oscar voters are nearly 94% Caucasian and 77% male… Blacks are about 2% of the academy, and Latinos are less than 2%. Oscar voters have a median age of 62, the study showed. People younger than 50 constitute just 14% of the membership.” Maya Thomas, a junior majoring in anthropology, stated, “I don’t know how they vote, what the criteria is, or why this year’s nominee list was all white. What I do know is that when I see someone who looks like me, with my same skin on screen and being recognized for their phenomenal acting, I swell with a sense of pride.” Thomas continued, “Diverse representation in filmmaking is so important because kids just like my little sisters have someone they have a connection to in other occupations than a football player.” The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will announce the final picks for the 2015 Oscars on February 22nd, 4pm PST. For more information on nominees in all categories, visit http://oscar.go.com/nominees.
Writer: Morgynne Tora
