How Diverse is Diverse? A Look into Hollywood Bias

In a record-breakingly diverse Oscars show Sunday night, twenty-four winners went home with shiny gold trophies, excited about their triumphs and recognition. Bohemian Rhapsody left with the most awards of the night, collecting a stunning four awards, including Best Actor and Best Sound Editing. Some are raving about the fact that this was the first time in thirty years that the show was hostless; most people, however, are talking about the fact that this year’s Oscars were more diverse than ever before.

Three out of four of the acting-based awards were given to people of color: Regina King, Mahershala Ali, and Rami Malek, and many filmmakers of color were given awards as well. Ruth E. Carter and Hannah Bleacher became the first African American women to win best costume design and production design.

So yes, this year’s awards were definitely more diverse, and no one is taking that away from them, but how diverse is diverse? A tweet from Kyle Buchanan on the night of the Oscars said, “Only 3 black women have won Oscars for anything other than acting. 2 of them just happened tonight.” To me, something seems off. How can the Academy claim to be diversifying itself when they’ve only had a measly three women ever win?

But how can we blame the Academy for awarding white men and women when those two are the majority of their voting pool? 94% of the Oscars voters were white, and 74% percent were men; in contrast, only 2% of voters were black. While it’s disappointing, it’s not surprising that white men are electing their own, which is exactly why the voting pool itself needs to be expanded. Until that happens, we won’t see too much growth anywhere else.

Three years after the popular hashtag #OscarsSoWhite opened our eyes to the painful truth, the Academy has definitely made strides to correct their mistakes. Spike Lee and Regina King both gave mention to the fact that the Academy is making an effort to diversify their membership. Bias and diversity are important issues these days, and they are prominent ones for the  film industry to focus on; while many are glad that improvements have started, , there is a long way to go.