The Economy of Prestige.

Last year, actor and high octane personality Vin Diesel made an interesting statement about one of the action films from the major Fast & Furious franchise. The star and producer of ‘Furious 7’ claimed ‘it would probably win best pictures at the Oscars, unless the Oscars don’t want to be relevant ever.’ With an estimated budget of $190 million, Furious 7 clawed in over $147 million on its US weekend opening release alone. I’ve grown up with the franchise and I’ve learnt not to expect the most captivating performances or plots twists from these films. I do enjoy how, with every movie, the stunt and action sequences get larger, louder and even more ludicrous (no pun intended).

Yet I do not think the Oscars are the type to nominate a movie purely based on action entertainment. And I also do not think that Vin Diesel was directly equating the success of the movie to the flipping and explosions of supercars. Rather Vin Diesel was highlighting the emotional component of the actor Paul Walker. During filming the 40 year old actor died when his Porsche crashed into a tree at high speed. The production team got Paul Walker’s brother to play the final scenes of the movie. Most of my friends, male and female, admitted to crying when they saw the final scene. A harsh reality hit home, and was solidified in the scripted line, ‘one last ride.’ Audiences were witnessing the eulogy to a friend and beloved actor. Still, the Oscars gave the Best Picture to Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance; a smaller independent film about an actor’s desperate pursuit to launch his directorial debut. I imagine the performances were great but this is beside the point. The budget for the film was $22 million and its weekend box office numbers finished on $424,000 yet it won the Oscar; Furious 7 didn’t even get nominated.

It is evident that money does not sway the votes of Academy members. So what kind of film grabs their attention? Looking at the nominations for this year’s glamourous movie event, I would say writers, actors, and producers of a certain ethnic origin. Yes, there is a lot of coverage in the news and media about the lack of diversity in the Oscar nominations. The Academy president promised that things would change but they seem like they haven’t. What adds to the controversy are high profile black actors and directors like the Smith family and Spike Lee boycotting the event and appealing to other black creatives of the industry to do the same. The Academy has also managed to get Chris Rock to host the show; his promotional video has him performing the famous chalk clap ritual of basketballer Le Bron James, with the hashtag The White BET Awards. I would gladly tune in and watch the show just for the awkwardness generated by the black comedian’s overtly racial jokes. Chris Rock is in a very important position to vent the frustrations of the film industry’s black community.

It makes me think. Maybe hiring Chris Rock is an academy marketing technique, or maybe it’s a form of tokenism, or maybe it’s just a blunder. Some critics ask why we care so much about the industry opinions of a disconnected group of white elite artists. The academy demographics reveal that 94% of Oscar voters are white, 76% of them are male, and the average age of the voter is 63 years old. With such statistics, the lack of diversity in their voting is inevitable and even logical. So why should creatives from different ethnic backgrounds bother with ‘begging’ for their acceptance? The danger of agreeing with this question is connected to what the point fails to address. The state of the film industry reflects the state of the nation. After finally opening up about the Oscar nominations, Will Smith says:

The nominations reflect the Academy, the Academy reflects the industry, and then the industry reflects America. It reflects a series of challenges that we are facing in our country at the moment; a regressive slide towards separatism.

Honestly, the only black creative that I feel should have got an Oscar nomination nod is the director Ryan Coogler for Creed. There has been a long history of black actors and directors who play and write characters that depict black people as more symbols than complex human beings. Most of the black Oscar winners either played maids, butlers, slaves, or strugglers of oppression.

The impression this gives is that for a black creative to be awarded for their work in the academy, they have to play or portray a certain type of role; a submissive role. This is the problem Will Smith alludes to. The fight for acceptance goes beyond the film industry to become a fight against racial injustice and prejudice. In this circumstance, I can understand the urgent need to do something about it. I can understand Will Smith boycotting the show. Some say it was because he did not get a nomination for Concussion; a biopic film where he plays a Nigerian surgeon whose discovery of neurologically deteriorating disease that jeopardises the prospects of the American football organisation, NFL.

Will Smith not getting a vote is part of the problem but not the whole picture. Sure, his performance in the film is questionable; I watched the trailer and his Nigerian accent is very worrying. Yet here is a film where the protagonist is a black actor who is not a slave, a butler or a civil rights leader, but a doctor; an intelligent certified doctor. The solution to the lack of diversity in the film industry lies in changing the oppressed as well as the oppressor. The black community need to adequately support film makers who explore more of a variety of characters in their work. The state of our entertainment culture needs reconditioning. The dollar needs to spread to intelligent films. We need creative diversity within our campaign for racial diversity. Only then can we begin to really do our part in chipping away at the walls of prestige that house racial prejudice. Matt Damon on the docu-series Project Greenlight gives us a key insight into how institutions like the Oscar’s manage the economy of prestige. When black producer Effie Brown mentioned the caution needed when portraying racially sensitive issues on film Damon responded with an opinion on diversity that left Brown speechless:

When you talk about diversity, you do it in the casting of the film, not in the casting of the show.

The problem with this progressive liberal statement is that it’s theory of awarding on merit instead of race sounds great but fails to understand that true diversity begins with the writers and producers who make the decisions about the work. The power lies in the hands of the decision makers. So the focus of the push for racial integration needs to start there. However, one must point out that the black community has more recognition than other ethnicities like Latinos, and Asians in the film industry. This is a fight for all ethnicities to have a voice in Hollywood.

There is much work to do but this is nothing new to us. As long as we don’t give up. As long as we continue to support creatives like Ryan Coogler as he paves a way for diversity up into an industry that shapes our culture. It’s not just about finding things made by black directors or writers; it’s about finding great things made by black directors and writers. It’s about giving these great things the room to fail and the same platform to shine amongst its white peers. Diversity doesn’t just happen. You have to work at it. There’s only one way I see the issue of diversity in the Oscars dramatically advancing in this generation. And that is through the temporary suspension of the Academy Guild. We need to find a new way of better reflecting the quality of film from all ethnic groups. Here are few ideas I have about changing the system. We could introduce a rule where members are obliged to sit together, over a period of time, and watch every movie presented to the Academy. If they do not comply, then their membership will be taken from them. Also, we could launch new categories in the award ceremony that encourage the celebration of film from all ethnic groups. We could change the way academy members are elected and re-elected. We could also have the Multi Ethnic Media Coalition confront the six major studios about putting in place initiatives like Matt Damon’s Project Greenlight that scout the best creatives and give them the opportunity to train and make films both independently and collaboratively with some of the more established individuals in the industry.

These are some examples of how to actively encourage diversity in the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Some of them might be operating already. In effect, the economy of prestige that AMPAS manages needs to crash and be rebooted. Otherwise the advancement will be an upward oscillation and not a steady progression. Either way, there is progress. The question of how much progress is up to us.

By Kelechi Iwumene.

@Kelechi_Iwumene

Bibliography:

BBC Newsbeat: Vin Diesel claims Fast and Furious 7 will win an Oscar. Internet Movie Database: Furious 7 (2015), Birdman (2014). Oscar Voters: 94% White, 76% Men, and an Average of 63 Years Old, The Atlantic Will Smith says Oscar nominations don’t reflect diversity in the US, Good Morning America. Project Greenlight, HBO Season 4

Pictures: Oscar voters really don’t like being called racists, Vanity Fair. Sylvester Stallone and Ryan Coogler on the Set of Creed, The Wrap. Concussion, The Reel Critic. Project Greenlight Poster, Collider. Effie Brown, Essence. Oscars 2016 Nomination Contenders and Categories, Oscars.

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