Cultural Analysis of the Oscar Nominations

 In the past twenty years, only twice, in 1998 and 2011, have African-Americans not been nominated in any category in the Oscars. 2015 marks one more year that African-Americans have not been nominated for an academy award. This year this controversy has become more of an issue- no doubt because of riots elicited from the cases Ferguson or Eric Garner. This year, Selma, a movie about Martin Luther King Jr., was released to rave reviews. To the dismay of many, Selma was nominated for no best actor/actress awards, including supporting actor or actress. This verdict by the Academy comes immediately after 12 Years A Slave won best actress in a supporting role, writing, and picture last year. People were enraged by this verdict because they see it as a racial backlash against the events of this previous summer. On the contrary, I think that the nominations are not quite as racially biased as some would make them out to be, but rather are fueling anger at legitimate issues, like Trayvon Martin, at less substantial quandaries such as the Oscar nominations.

Selma is nominated for a best picture award, which means the academy is recognizing the film as a provocative and thoughtful movie. The fact that no African-Americans were nominated for an award I think can be boiled down to one main point-- the Academy looks for excellence in the films it produces. There were a lot of great performances this year, and no doubt the actors and actresses in Selma were passionate about the art they created, but maybe they didn't stand out against other artists, who happen to be white. The Academy proved itself to not discriminate nominations last year when, deservingly, Lupita Nyong'o won for best supporting actress. I must admit that I have not seen Selma, but what I've heard, and this is not biased analyzing of the movie, I've heard that had the movie not been about the Civil Rights Movement it wouldn't be considered half a good a movie as it is currently.

The Oscars do not look to make a comment on race in America. They are there to award original, thought provoking films that make people have an emotional or cognitive response. The academy has awarded Selma the honor of being nominated as a best picture, which is a status that many movies cannot claim to have held. The Academy may be biased because the entire board is comprised of white people, but they have absolutely nothing to gain from being biased in their opinions. Even if they were biased, isn't it the job of a judge, at one point or another, become biased?

There is a problem with race in this country, there is no doubt about that. I think that tensions are running high at the moment, and that any type of racial grievance is viewed as the penultimate moment in race relations in this country. There are events, such as in Ferguson, that warrant upheaval, but there are other events, such as Oscar nominations, that don't change the world that much. The Oscars, while fun to watch both the program and the movies being awarded, doesn't drastically change the way we view the world. I can't even remember what movie won best picture in 2013, and I don't have only a vague memory of what the nominations for best picture were in 2014. Movies are worth remembering not for the awards they have but for the impact on people. The best art and ideas were hardly appreciated as much as they should have when the artist was alive. The Great Gatsby was seen as a worthless book for years after it was published, George Seurat was viewed as a mockery to art when he created A Sunday On La Grande Jatte, but now it is considered a masterpiece. Rarely is art or ideas appreciated in their time. I'm sure Selma is an awe inspiring movie, and I'm even more certain that the topics and issues it discusses are more prevalent today than at any other time. Selma is an inspiration to a league of people, and shouldn't be considered any less powerful because it was to nominated for an Oscar.