The Oscars: Another year without much diversity
By hola | Published | No Comments
The 89th Academy Awards take place Sunday, but don’t expect to see many Latino faces among the nominees. This year only two Latinos are up for awards out of a total of 24 award categories.
Lin-Manuel Miranda
Rodrigo Prieto is up for Best Cinematography for the film, “Silence,” while Lin-Manuel Miranda, author of the acclaimed Broadway musical Hamilton, has been nominated in the Best Original Song category. The last time a Latino won Best Actor at the Oscars was in 2000. Benicio del Toro took home the iconic statue for his role in the movie Traffic. A Latina has never won in the Best Actress category.
But what has been called a case of Latino “invisibility” isn’t limited to big screen awards. According to a report published last year by the University of Southern California, Annenberg, racial diversity is lacking on television too. Out of 11,000 speaking characters in films and television shows researchers reviewed, 71.7 percent were white, 12.2 percent black, and 5.8 percent Hispanic/Latino.
The report stated that only 28.3 percent of all speaking characters in film and television were from marginalized communities, even though these marginalized communities make 37.9 percent of the U.S. population. Latinos make 17.1 percent of the U.S. population.
The report’s authors also mentioned that of 2013’s top 100 grossing movies, only 4.9 percent of actors were Latino. Of the few Latinas on screen, the report found they are the most likely group to be in sexy attire or appear nude in film.
Source: USC Annenberg study
The report states further that the numbers of women and people from marginalized communities in film and television have not changed in a decade or more.
“For the past 10 years, we have quantified disturbing patterns around the lack of media representation concerning females and people of color in film,” the authors wrote. “Despite elevated awareness around this issue, the numbers have not budged.”
Ironically, despite the prevalence of such celluloid stereotypes, Latina women over the age of 25 are the most frequent moviegoers in the country, according a survey conducted by the Wrap, that conducted a survey of 1,500 frequent moviegoers. The graph below, created by the Wrap, breaks down movie-going audiences by sex and ethnicity, showing the percentage of what movies each group has seen.
While entrenched discrimination that underpins the lack of diversity and frequent stereotypes in film and TV is not new, it’s been getting more attention in recent years. Last year’s lack of African-American actors among the Oscar nominees lead to a digital backlash against the Academy using the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. Last year, only white actors won top awards; Leonardo DiCaprio, Brie Larson, Alicia Vikander and Mark Rylance.
Last fall, meanwhile, actor John Leguizamo wrote an op-ed in the New York Times about his struggle as a Latino actor. It opens by mentioning the time his producer told him “John, you’re so talented, but too bad you’re Latin — otherwise you’d be so much further along.”
Actor john Leguizamo
Leguizamo wrote the 56 million U.S. Latinos are victims of “neglect, discrimination and ignorance.”
“We have grown up amid an entrenched disrespect for Latin culture, and we have often internalized that disrespect,” he wrote.
Santiago Pozo, a Spanish American film producer, writer and director, wrote another op-ed titled “Oscars are Black and White; But not Brown.” He mentions that African Americans received 15 award nominations this year.
Santiago Pozo, a Spanish American film producer, writer and director, wrote another op-ed in last month titled “Oscars are Black and White; But not Brown.” He mentions that African Americans received 15 award nominations this year. Actor Denzel Washington is up for Best Actor in “Fences,” Ruth Negga for Best Actress in “Loving,” and Mahershala Ali for Best Supporting Actor in “Moonlight,” to name a few.
“And, yes, the awards season’s diversity has indeed come a long way…if you’re African-American,” Pozo wrote. “That’s huge. And sorely overdue. It’s a great change for the better, for all of us.”
Pozo went on to mention the Golden Globe awards, where actors Diego Luna and Sofia Vegara “were called upon for comic relief and to give out awards, but not receive them,” Pozo wrote.
For Pozo, the best way the Academy could help bring more diversity to the film industry is by nominating talented Latino actors more often.
“Maybe the Academy will give us the opportunity that the industry does not: to be visible,” Pozo wrote. “Plant the seeds, my beloved Academy.”
—Maria Carrasco
Recent Stories
