Academy takes historic action to increase diversity- Page 15

[javero]

Posted: 2/3/16 at 9:36pm

Below is a quick list of non-blacks who've either been nominated, or been awarded, or performed during a BET telecast:

 

Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani, Justin Timerlake, Robin Thicke, Eminem, Macklemore, Ryan Lewis, Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, Miriam ben Ari, and M.I.A., inter alia.

 

ETA: The BET trophy was designed by Carlos Rodriguez aka Mare139.

 

#FactsMatter

Updated On: 2/3/16 at 09:36 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/3/16 at 10:51pm

What is your opinion on THAT, Dave?  

[Dave19]

Posted: 2/4/16 at 8:11am

CarlosAlberto said: " his way of thinking is the very reason this is going on "

 

Thanks for your reply in this thread, but can you please explain yourself?

 

Because I am totally for a diverse voting body in anything and I think the reason of constant separation by some people (own rules, own awards) is the very reason this keeps going on. It's a cause more than a result.

 

[Dave19]

Posted: 2/4/16 at 8:37am

FindingNamo said: "What is your opinion on THAT, Dave?  

 

"

I am talking about black reel awards. I don't know about BET awards but they seem completely unnecessary, especially if they nominate majorities or minorities.

 

The Oscars have a diverse voting body next year too. So what's the need?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/4/16 at 10:08am

Oh, so the world has reached its limit on awards?  People who give awards give them for all sorts of reasons.  Necessity is rarely one of them.

[javero]

Posted: 2/4/16 at 1:15pm

Dave19,

I’m going to share a little bit of US history of which you are likely unaware.  It should give you more perspective which you sorely lack as well.  Let’s wind the hands of time back to 1963, the year before I was born.   Three events occurred that year which would become a watershed in the civil rights struggle here in the US.

 

First, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, who self-identifies as African-American, graduated from the University of Georgia, a public institution.  It had taken several lawsuits just to allow her to enroll years earlier as well as the dispatching of national guardsmen to the campus to ensure her safety when she first arrived.  That same year she entered into a doomed marriage with a white fellow which was widely regarded as illegal due to anti-miscegenation laws on the books in the state that accidentally granted them the marriage license.  They subsequently remarried in a neighboring state that permitted what was then termed an interracial marriage.

 

In the neighboring state of Alabama, black Americans Vivian Malone and James A. Hood successfully enrolled at the University of Alabama, a public institution.  Earlier attempts of blacks to enroll in then-called white colleges throughout the state including that one had met with fire hoses, attack dogs, police batons, and bottles thrown by white students and townsfolk.  There is a widely-viewed video of then governor George Wallace attempting to block the entrance to the university registrar’s office in protest of a federal order to desegregate the university.

 

Still later that year, Robert G. Anderson, Henrie Monteith Treadwell, and James L. Solomon became the first three black students to enroll at the University of South Carolina after years of litigation.  Litigation to desegregate schools in South Carolina had been an ongoing concern for many years before 1963.  The battle encompassed primary and secondary schools as well.  See Briggs v. Elliott, 342 U.S. 350 (1952).

 

The three events highlighted above occurred nearly a decade after the US Supreme Court had ruled state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students to be unconstitutional, in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).  So you see, it literally took the Supreme Court's intervention to spread seeds of social cohesion that you believe so easily attainable simply by working your will on it.

 

 There is still a generation of Americans living with fairly fresh memories of the harshness of the nation’s entrenched color line which is arguably just now beginning to dissipate.  Many of us call those doyen and doyennes “mom and dad” or “grandma and grandpa”.   And in some cases, the cancer of that generation has not been completely eradicated.  Positive change does not occur overnight.  Nonetheless, neither revisionist history nor suppressing the heritage of any community aids progress towards that end.

 

 This nation is not homogenous in any way, shape, form, or fashion.  There are organizations that appeal to the mainstream and others which cater to a particular community by choice.  Furthermore, each citizen and/or resident is permitted to do whatever it takes within the law to improve their lot in life, as well as that of their family and whichever community they claim, as they see fit.  This may come as a surprise, but the ways in which we conduct our affairs do not require your mother****ing seal of approval.

Updated On: 2/4/16 at 01:15 PM

[Dave19]

Posted: 2/4/16 at 2:54pm

I am fully aware of the history, that is why I detest any form of separation.

 

 

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/4/16 at 5:33pm

You don't seem fully aware of anything, really.

[Dave19]

Posted: 2/4/16 at 8:47pm

Everything has been said in this thread. 

 

You love separation, or feel that it's needed. I don't. Let's agree to disagree.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/4/16 at 10:11pm

Since that's an utter mischaracterization of everything I've spent way more time explaining than you deserve, my conclusion that you don't understand much at all holds. I don't agree to disagree with you. You are wrong, and I will continue to point it out as long as there are impressionable minds who might stumble on your simplistic logic and think your reactionary analyses make sense. So we can agree on that. You keep spouting stupidity and I'll keep calling you out on it. 

[Dave19]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 8:12am

Wendy Spon, casting National theatre:"We always cast colorblind. We cast the best person for a role, regardless of skin color".

 

Idris Elba: "When I turn on my tv, I don't see multicultural".

 

When I turn on my tv, I see black people (and other races) in each and every film there is, every talkshow there is, every tv series there is, the Grammy's, the presidential debate, everything.

 

But that's not the point. You should see talent. Listen to Wendy.

 

Lucian Masamati: "I would like there to be a day, in the not too distant future, where I don't have to talk about the color of my skin".

 

Then why are you the only one doing it. Black people are in every film, at higher percentages than the actual population. So what is your goal.

 

Be glad that the representation of black people like yourself is absolutely overwhelming in everything and exceeds every thinkable percentage. Look at all the beautiful roles you play. STOP discriminating.

 

Look at Game of Thrones, look at Grease Live, Look at the music charts. Look at the Les Miserables casts on Broadway and West End. Look at everything.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFzn1CTJ1SY

 

Edit: The percentage difference is actually so high that it is getting remarkable.

Updated On: 2/5/16 at 08:12 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 12:29pm

"I see black people (and other races) in each and every film there is, every talkshow there is, every tv series there is"

Well, then, you're imagining things.

 

"Look at Game of Thrones, look at Grease Live, Look at the music charts. Look at the Les Miserables casts on Broadway and West End."

Which is why the Oscars stick out like an exceptionally white thumb.  

[Dave19]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 1:52pm

FindingNamo said: "

 

"Look at Game of Thrones, look at Grease Live, Look at the music charts. Look at the Les Miserables casts on Broadway and West End."

 

 

Which is why the Oscars stick out like an exceptionally white thumb.  

 

 

"

 

So you agree.

 

 

 

Updated On: 2/5/16 at 01:52 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 2:23pm

It's interesting that you claim not to see race, just performances, but you can't look anywhere in any media without seeing an abundance of diversity.

 

You're a real delusional series of contradictions that add up to zero, Dave.

[Dave19]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 3:16pm

I am telling you that almost every project has black people in it and that the percentages are actually very high.

You tell me you agree, because the Oscars surprise you.

Because I see them I am delusional? So you are too? 

Have another glass of white wine. Cheers.

Updated On: 2/5/16 at 03:16 PM

[BeadleDeedle]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 3:20pm

Every project? Thats...not true. That's wrong. You know you're wrong, right? 

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 3:30pm

"I am telling you that every project has black people in it and that the percentages are actually very high."
 

 

I got an expensively-produced promo in the mail for the "She Loves Me" revival.  "Oooh," I thought, "That shop only serves VANILLA ice cream!"

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 3:33pm

Dave19 said: "Everything has been said in this thread. 

 

 

 

You love separation, or feel that it's needed. I don't. Let's agree to disagree.

 

 

Dave, this issue is NOT about separation - - - it's about INCLUSION and lack thereof.

[Dave19]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 3:52pm

I know and the inclusion of black people in film and theatre is extremely well represented.

 

Look at Game of Thrones, look at Grease Live, Look at the music charts. Look at the Les Miserables casts on Broadway and West End. Look at everything. There is nothing to complain about in that department.

 

Like I said, to a point where it tears all the percentages apart. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining about that, but it is quite remarkable.

 

Projects with no black people are rarer than projects with no white people nowadays. So stop about inclusion please.

 

And prizes are an entirely different story. If the percentage of black people in films is turned up to 30%, while the population is only 12%, it is still no quarantee to be awarded whatsoever. 

 

Next year the Oscars will have a diverse voting body, so there will be absolutely no need for black reel awards. Maintaining those while the mainstream awards are already diverse is what maintains separation. So black reel awards will be a cause of the separation. Not a result.

 

You can't include one race into all awards and exclude another race from half of them. Period. No matter what your race is. And no matter how much you call it "celebration". It's called exclusion and separation when it's done about films that multiple races work on. Yes, it can happen that a certain race is not in the finalists, but don't call the Awards white reel/black reel.

 

Updated On: 2/5/16 at 03:52 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 5:06pm

"Projects with no black people are rarer than projects with no white people nowadays."

Is there a word for beyond certifiably insane?

[javero]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 5:32pm

"You can't include one race into all awards and exclude another race from half of them."

 

Yes you can, if the organizing entity is privately held and the awards are privately funded.  One of the reasons I cited three examples earlier of US public universities that were forced to desegregate in 1963 is that they are in fact, PUBLIC institutions funded in part by state taxpayers as well as alumni.   I could go on till tomorrow about mediocre students admitted into private elite colleges and universities in the US (including film studies programs) on account of their legacy status, which means that at least one parent holds a degree from the school.  And then there are mediocre students from upper crust families that can foot the bill without the need for financial aid, like a certain former US president.

 

What does this have to do with the Oscars or the price of tea in China, you might ask.  My response is that there are countless filmmakers from disadvantaged communities who struggle just to raise funding to get their subjects filmed let alone bag a distribution deal.  Movie-making is a very expensive proposition, including producing a rudimentary documentary.  Many of the organizations that FindingNamo and I cited earlier were created to provide financial and moral support as well as networking opportunities to up-and-coming filmmakers within target demographics.  Some of their works will have mass appeal while others will fill a niche.  

 

You really should stop crapping all over less fortunate and marginalized filmmakers who are simply trying to get their stories out there before a receptive audience.  If their wares interest you then fine.  If not, that's fine as well.  But, let me reiterate that all things do not come through you mate, at least on this side of the pond.

Updated On: 2/5/16 at 05:32 PM

[Dave19]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 7:05pm

Thanks for your explanation but it doesn't cut it.

 

If the voting body of the Oscars is completely diverse, then there is no longer need to play the victim role to justify "colored awards".

 

No matter how "less fortunate and marginalized" you keep on seeing and treating people.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 7:27pm

Javero's explanation cuts it perfectly.  You just don't understand it.  And your response highlights your lack of comprehension.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 7:46pm

Samantha Bee on Diversity: ‘The F*cking Thing You Have to Do Is Just Hire People’

 

http://www.vulture.com/2016/02/samantha-bee-diversity-just-hire-people.html

 

And then when they're working, don't let them be judged by the aggrieved and those who fret they've been displaced!

[javero]

Posted: 2/5/16 at 7:54pm

"If the voting body of the Oscars is completely diverse, then there is no longer need to play the victim role to justify 'colored awards'".

 

I wasn't aware that the voting body of the Oscars is completely diverse.

 

Interestingly enough, there is much talk in the states about a shift from racial & gender-based affirmative action to an income-based variety in several contexts.  That's a subject worthy of its own thread.  Nevertheless, I'll provide a synopsis.  It's a clever way of awarding certain set-asides to whites from lower-income families which in and of itself is not a bad thing.  However, the inescapable truth is that a huge number of the nation's poor are that word that dare not speak its name lest you be offended.  Not everyone has the luxury of hocking their home or hitting up well-heeled family members to independently finance a feature film project.