This falls in the category of, “curious about readers’ opinions” — or, really, curious about the opinions of people who think about this sort of thing, whether readers or not, but you take what you can get.
There has been a fair amount of uproar, among people who tend to get into an uproar about these sorts of things, about the fact that, of all the “best acting” Academy Award categories, not one nominee was a Person of Color. Now, I have to admit that I have not seen any of these movies — we saw Unbroken not long ago, and my husband wants to see American Sniper (side question: should I?), but nothing on this list at all. (And, yes, I did check on the nominees to determine that they were, in fact, all of largely, or entirely, European descent.)
And, of couse, Al Sharpton called an “emergency meeting” — though only of his own “task force.”
So this is really a two-part question:
First, of all, were there nonwhite actors or actresses whose performances should have been recognized as a nominee? Were any of the performances in, say, Selma, top notch? One does have the impression that the “serious” films tend to star black actors only if it’s “black-themed,” e.g., about the Civil Rights Movement, or slavery, or urban poverty, but that your typical Mental Illness Tragedy wouldn’t.
But, secondly — here’s where the hypothetical comes in: imagine that the Oscar acting categories weren’t differentiated by sex. For those of you who do see movies and appreciate the nuances of performance, by and large, which sex would be more represented?
UPDATE:
What if the Academy Awards moved from male/female to “best performance in a drama” vs. “best performance in an an action film or comedy”? I suppose the line between “action” and “drama” isn’t always clear, but you know what I mean: Guardians of the Galaxy vs. Selma.
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In