Greetings Britlings!
Do you ever have those moments where you look at things in the media and shake your head at the attention given to certain issues? Hollywood I love you but sometimes you are just so messed up.
Okay, so I have to be very careful here expressing my opinions, not to hurt anyone’s feelings, nor offend anyone with what I’m about to say. I will start by seeing these are my thoughts, and do not reflect that of Brits in LA as a whole.
I’ll start with this hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. I’ll repeat it #OscarsSoWhite and once more #OscarsSoWhite. And add to it – the uproar of certain individuals in Hollywood, yes I’m talking to you Spike Lee, twice-nominated famed film director of such classics as Do The Right Thing, and Malcolm X who said the following on his instagram he “cannot support” the “lily white” Oscars.” which in my opinion is a racist thing to say by the way. And then actress Jada Pinkett-Smith released a video, pretty much inviting other black actors to join her in her non-attendance this year. Is she really that upset that her husband didn’t get a nomination? Personally, I didn’t get to see ‘Concussion’, and as a BAFTA member, our rules state you can’t vote on something you haven’t seen. I wasn’t sent a screener and it came out on Christmas Day -and I was busy living life, paddleboarding in Maui. Sorry, not sorry. I’m sure his performance is top notch – was was his Oscar-nominated performance in Ali. But truth is there are over 300 feature films released each year and people simply don’t have time to watch every single movie. So how can this be fair? Does that make me racist? No because I did watch Straight Out Of Compton and I loved it, And I voted for it in the BAFTAs and also for its actor Jason Mitchell, who portrayed Eazy-E. But I didn’t vote for the very white cast of “The Big Short” in any categories because I didn’t get to see it in time. Them’s the rules.
Now I understand the upset and frustration of all these white folks (disclaimer: I am white!) being nominated time after time and winning all the time, it is not fair. It’s not a fair representation of today’s society. But I will also ask this: Where were the other people of color or the LGBT nominations, and why aren’t those ‘groups’ making noise? Eddie Redmayne gets nominated for doing essentially a modern day black-face playing a struggling transgender. “Such a stretch!” (fine hand acting there by the way, Eds) while the real transgender actor in Tangerine, Kitana Kiki Rodriguez plays Sin-Dee Rella, a transgender sex-worker was overlooked for her fine work. Why? Because hardly anybody saw it, or because Hollywood is still homophobic and transphobic? (Disclaimer: I’m gay, by the way). Please do, it’s a wonderful film, shot all on the iphone! Genius. But these days Mickey Rooney could never play Asian in ‘Breakfast At Tiffany’s” Dressing up to portray anyone that is not the same colou as yourself is not acceptable, nor should you, there is a wonderful pool of actors of the same color as the characters from which we can now pick – and rightly so, The West End has currently for the first time cast all Asian roles with Asian actors. But where are all the gay actors and should they only be right for gay roles?
Has this all gotten a little out of hand? Acting is acting, pretending to be things you are not. If this theory was to stick, only murderers can play murderers and thieves can play thieves. In drama school you are taught to use your imagination, act with a chair, or tennis ball, pretend to be a tree. Anyway my point is actors should be able to have the freedom to play all sorts of roles and the better actors to win those roles, regardless of gender, race, occupation. The job is to make you believe.
Straight people playing gay in Hollywood is seen as a huge accomplishment, a push. “Wow, such a brave actor to kiss or touch another member of the same sex..” I mean it’s right up there with losing weight for a role, or putting it on, or women baring their breasts – ‘So changeling to get naked on screen – let’s give them a nomination for that.’ Tom Hanks, Denzel, Mark Ruffalo, Cate Blanchett, Paul Rudd and even you, Mr. Will Smith. Listen you all played your roles very well, and I wonder if these movies would have done so well with (god forbid) real life gay people! – That wouldn’t be considered a stretch at all – in fact they probably liked it! I can tell you from experience, any love scene with either man or woman is incredibly difficult. – Wait can I start a new hashtag at this point? #OscarSoStraight”
In the end racism and homophobia are bigger problems than the Academy’s voters, who usually end up voting for the people they know, friends, peers, people they want to work with. I heard this myself from an academy voter, who even took a screenshot of his ballot to a director and sent it over as proof – probably in the hopes of getting a job out of it.
I’m probably gonna get some stick for this article, but I need to let you know that I grew up in a council estate with black, Asian and Indian kids who were my friends. My auntie is married to a black man, my uncle is married to an Indian lady, my niece has just given birth to a beautiful baby girl, whose father happens to be black. I’m gay, my brother is gay. But to us as a family none of this matters, we don’t see color or race, we see people. We see love, we see friendships.
Perhaps we should take race and gender out of it for a second and realise this is a stupid awards show that honors people and pats them on the back for all the hard work they’ve done on a movie, no matter what we think of it. No one is saving lives here, or starving, or dealing with death and despair, so if you really want to make a difference in the world, perhaps think bigger than the Oscars. And in the words of the youth program from yesteryear: “Why don’t you switch off your TV set and go out and do something less boring instead?” Like fighting for what’s right, gun control, immigration, starvation, homelessness, abuse, animal rights…. the things that really matter in life.
Let’s change the conversation, raise the consciousness and perhaps the one day we’ll see the hashtag #OscarsSoCaring
Cheers
Craig Young
(currently STILL trying to watch The Big Short)
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