The road to this year’s Oscars has been long and nutty, with one insane decision followed by a dozen more controversies. Remember the Best Popular Film category? Remember the whole Kevin Hart hosting fiasco? Or when the Academy decided it didn’t give a fuck about editors and cinematographers before swiftly changing its mind days later? It’s been a trip! So much so that it may be easy to forget how groundbreaking this year’s nominees actually are, and how much progress has been made over the last few years.
On Sunday night we’ll get to see Spike Lee’s name and film announced in the Best Director and Picture categories for the very first time. We’ll get to watch a telecast where the Black Panther cast is not only the best-dressed in the room, but also gets to celebrate their Best Picture nomination. It’s safe to assume that both of those things would never have happened if not for April Reign.
Back in 2015, Reign tweeted a single hashtag in response to that year’s all-white acting nominees, and soon #OscarsSoWhite turned into a major movement. That led to then-Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs launching an initiative to increase the number of diverse members and setting new rules to phase out old ones (i.e. all the old white dudes who hadn’t actually worked on projects in years). Now Reign will get to see the results of her work in person. The activist confirmed on Twitter on Tuesday that she’s attending this year’s Oscars ceremony.
“After creating the hashtag and working for almost five years to turn it into a movement that not only changed the Academy but made its way into so many other industries, I feel immense pride and a sense of coming full circle, back to the where it all began,” Reign told The Hollywood Reporter of her invite to the ceremony.
Just because the slightly less white, less male, and less old Academy has decided to nominate some films from diverse filmmakers and diverse actors over the past few years doesn’t mean all is corrected. There’s still plenty of work to be done, within the Academy and within the larger system of Hollywood itself. For Reign, #OscarsSoWhite is also about creating opportunities for all marginalized people in the industry, “regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, age, or disability, to have opportunities they didn’t before.”
12 Comments
“Safe to assume” good movies starring black people wouldn’t have been nominated, but for this woman? Seriously? Spike Lee and Marvel movies would have just flown under the radar?Or are you saying that these movies are only getting attention because they star black people, and their quality is secondary to that? Yikes, wouldn’t want to read into those implications.
The only issue being with BP being any good (it is a mid-level marvel movie, and most definitely not anything worth considering for Best Picture) so, the “safe to assume” comment stands. Look no further than its lack of nominations in any other major category.It wasn’t even MBJ’s best movie of the year
i think, in the near future, we can expect a lot of mediocre movies with social justice cred getting overhyped by guilty white folks afraid to go against the woke tide. fun stuff!
If you think BP’s best picture nomination isn’t pandering then I’m sorry.12 years a slave and moonlight deserved their nominations and wins. Black Panther, not so much.
don’t you know that all white people are members of a shadowy cabal dedicated to making sure certain races are omitted from awards shows?
Oh good, a progressive activist who judged everyone by race is in attendance. Scratch that: Hundreds of progressive activists who judge everyone based on race will be in attendance.
Hey, remember when the AV Club commenters got really, really mad about this hashtag?
WE WUZ KANGZ!
I hope this nigger enjoyed ruining the show. Now that it’s become irrelevant, she’s ready to groid and stink up the place.
It wasn’t about Oscar the Grouch? It looks like I owe someone an apology.
Seems “so much work still to do” consists of waiting for the old white academy members to die
#OscarsSoWhat