American Public Goes Unrepresented in the Oscars

By Feliz Moreno

I am not a huge fan of watching celebrities prance around in dresses and suits that cost more than my tuition and winning awards for producing and starring in movies I haven't seen.

In short, I am not a fan of the Academy Awards. I am not savvy enough with brand names — a side effect of my being a broke college student — for the "best-dressed" competition to hold my attention. The ceremony always serves to remind me of how measly my projected income rate looks.

I have hardly ever seen the movies that were nominated. On this years list: "Hugo," "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," "The Artist," "Midnight in Paris," "Moneyball," "The Tree of Life," "War Horse," "The Descendants" and "The Help." I have seen one of these movies.

But my real problem with the Oscars is the whole process. To begin with, I can only imagine the amount of money that goes into promoting and campaigning for the nomination of these movies. This is money that I believe could be better spent elsewhere, especially given our current economic crisis.

Voting members of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, 5,783 members strong, decide which movie wins. It is no American Idol, either, folks.

The people in the Academy are predominantly white, male and above the age of 50, meaning that the movies they choose often reflect the values and cultural biases of that demographic. I am not represented by this demographic, nor is most of our Santa Clara community or a good portion of the American public.

The Academy members are often actors, actresses, screenwriters and directors who have won or been nominated for Oscars in years prior, but since Academy membership is lifelong, the group is also highly representative of pre-Civil Rights Era America.

Just think about the nine movies that were nominated. How many of them have actors of color in the lead roles? One.

"The Help" stars Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer and Spencer won a well-deserved Oscar for best supporting actress. And many people in the black community would argue that "The Help" isn't even a movie they would take pride in seeing awarded an Oscar because of it's unrealistic, romanticized version of the black Civil Rights movement.

Only one woman has ever received the Oscar for best director — Kathryn Bigelow. She directed the "Hurt Locker" back in 2008, a movie that fits well with the white-American male demographic.

Women are already underrepresented in the film industry, but it doesn't help that they are being reviewed and criticized by people on the other side of the gender line.

Without getting into the issues of the movie industry itself, I will just say that unless there is a change in Academy member demographics and the populations represented within the nominated movies themselves, I will continue to feel that the ceremony is a general waste of my time.

Feliz Moreno is a sophomore English major and editor of the Opinion section.