The 2016 Academy Awards have had a major impact, not just on the future of the Oscars, but on the entirety of Hollywood itself.
The 2016 Academy Awards took place last month under the orange glow of the LA sun. Hollywood icons littered the famous red carpet adorned in fashionable clothing and every 10 metres or so stood a large, golden statue of a man: Oscar. The ceremony this year was swathed in controversy – the #OscarsSoWhite hash-tag recurring on social media like an ocean current, dragging the once impenetrable ceremony into murky waters.
Despite many calling for a boycott of the ceremony (Will Smith and wife Jada among them), many black celebrities decided gracing the red carpet would be a stronger way to spread awareness. Whoopi Goldberg was among the celebrities sharing her thoughts on the controversy with every media outlet that asked; while smiling she claimed that Hollywood need make more roles available for minorities, creating opportunity that don't yet exist.
Unfortunately for Ms Goldberg, she was later named ‘Oprah Winfrey’ in a tweet from the pop outlet “Total Beauty” – an ironic example of just how out of touch many in the Hollywood industry are with the diverse, rich, modern society that our generation are lucky enough to find themselves in.
Of course, the story of the night was Leonardo DiCaprio’s win, causing not only an outpouring of love from delighted fans but the death of a popular internet meme. With an Oscar finally resting on his arm, Leo took to the stage to share a more politically charged message than many seemed to expect. “Climate change” he said, “is real. It is happening right now.” For many in America, this is a much needed message. Senators of State have previously stood in Congress and, holding out a snowball, claimed Global Warming is a delusional theory. In fact, this years Oscars seemed to be one of the most political so far.
Host Chris Rock blasted the Academy for the racism in the ceremony (all 40 main nominees for Best/Best Supporting Actor/Actress were white) during his opening monologue. A black man himself, millions across the world watched as he, rightfully so, slaughtered the racist system through topical spoofs, special guests and an awkward appearance by a certain ‘Clueless’ actress…
Amongst the crowd of winning films, Mad Max: Fury Road stood proud and tall. Taking home a staggering eight Oscars, the Tom Hardy, Charlize Theron epic only gathered more steam in the race for an equally stunning sequel. Despite the overwhelming success, it was Spotlight which took home the prized Best Picture award. The film, which details the revolting child abuse scandal in the Catholic Church that was shamefully covered up by the Vatican, was praised for the way in which it presented journalism in the modern age. In a society of TMZs and Daily Mails, it was refreshing for audiences to see such a competent, efficient and likeable team on-screen – a sentiment the Academy surely echoed.
Alicia Vikander, as predicted, took home a little golden statue for her breath-taking performance in Tom Hooper’s ‘The Danish Girl’, and Mark Rylance won for his supporting role in ‘Bridge of Spies’. It was Rylance’s victory that baffled critics the most; his character had little to do in the aforementioned film, and many predicted that Academy-favourite Sylvester Stallone would win for his turn in the Rocky successor: ‘Creed’.
Since the awards ceremony, the Academy have made changes in their voting system and inner hierarchy in order to ensure that more diversity is represented at the glamorous occasion. Taken from the Academy’s website:
“Beginning later this year, each new member’s voting status will last 10 years, and will be renewed if that new member has been active in motion pictures during that decade. We will apply these same standards retroactively to current members. Those who do not qualify for active status will be moved to emeritus status. Emeritus members do not pay dues but enjoy all the privileges of membership, except voting. This will not affect voting for this year’s Oscars.
At the same time, the Academy will supplement the
traditional process in which current members sponsor new members by launching an ambitious, global campaign to identify and recruit qualified new members who represent greater diversity. In order to immediately increase diversity on the Board of Governors, the Academy will establish three new governor seats that will be nominated by the President for three-year terms and confirmed by the Board.”
The three governor seats have recently been filled in the forms of Reginald Hudlin (of the Director’s branch), Gregory Nava (of the Writer’s branch) and Jennifer Yuh Nelson (representing Short Films and Feature Animation). They began their three year terms on March 15th. Interestingly, two of the three governors represent various minorities, Hudlin being a black male and Nelson an Asian female. Whether these changes will create more opportunity for actors of various ethnicity, gender and sexuality is currently unknown, but the measures taken seem promising.
Unfortunately, we will have to wait until 2017 to see the fruits of the Academy’s labour, but as Oscar season draws to a close and we approach the un-official ‘Summer Movie Season’, we still have incredible films to look forward to! Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Captain America: Civil War, Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass, The Jungle Book, Suicide Squad, The Huntsman: Winters War, Finding Dory and more will all crash onto the silver screens in the coming weeks and months – so make sure to stay tuned to JG Review for all your movie news and reviews!
Written by James Green
No comments:
Post a Comment