{"id":2718,"date":"2016-03-17T08:00:32","date_gmt":"2016-03-17T12:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/?p=2718"},"modified":"2016-03-17T08:00:32","modified_gmt":"2016-03-17T12:00:32","slug":"centre-react-to-the-oscarssowhite-controversy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/2016\/03\/17\/centre-react-to-the-oscarssowhite-controversy\/","title":{"rendered":"Centre reacts to the #OscarsSoWhite controversy"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY DANA REYNOLDS – STAFF WRITER<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Beginning with host Chris Rock\u2019s bold opening monologue and ending with the fiery, political anthem \u201cFight the Power\u201d by Public Enemy running over the credits, the 88th<\/sup> annual Academy Awards delivered a sustained and wildly messy attack on Hollywood\u2019s diversity problem. This year, uproar was unavoidable; for the second consecutive year, only white performers received nominations for the Academy\u2019s acting awards\u2014spurring the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite to consume social media.<\/p>\n

Rock cut right to the chase, opening with: \u201cI\u2019m here at the Academy Awards, otherwise known as the White People\u2019s Choice awards.\u201d However, he did not only target the Academy. Anyone who knows Chris Rock\u2019s comedy routines knows that he looks for different sides of issues and multiple ways to make people feel uncomfortable. For instance, he teased protesters\u2014saying that African Americans did not protest similar Oscar \u201cwhite-outs\u201d in the 1960s because they were \u201ctoo busy being raped and lynched to care about who won best cinematographer.\u201d Even with these jokes, many of the people within Dolby Theatre missed the underlying point: the Oscars are not important enough to get angry about.<\/p>\n

Junior Mathias Braboy agreed with Chris Rock and stated that there are more important issues that African Americans are facing than not receiving nominations at the Oscars.<\/p>\n

\u201cI watched Chris Rock\u2019s monologue, but the whole issue regarding nominations is not something we should put so much attention into,\u201d Braboy said. \u201cI would like to see more black actors\/actresses, but I don\u2019t think it should override other issues. I thought that it was wrong of certain black actors\/actresses to boycott the Oscars. It was the wrong way to go about eliciting change\u2014Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman were still there. It is only a matter of time before we will see change. African American actors\/actresses should instead be continuously working to perfect their craft.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout the awards, Chris Rock repeatedly criticized Hollywood for its lack of diversity, insisting that the lack of black nominations comes from lack of opportunities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want black actors to get the same opportunities as white actors,\u201d Rock said. \u201cThat\u2019s it. Not just once. Leo gets a great part every year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Junior Sydney Preston definitely thinks that the lack of opportunity for black actors and actresses is a problem.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that they should recognize more African American actors and actresses,\u201d Preston said. \u201cPart of the problem is that they are not given enough roles. There are many talented African Americans actors and actresses that are not given the same opportunities as white actors and actresses, which is wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Centre librarian Jamie Powell also chimed in.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is totally a lack of diversity in major nominee areas,\u201d Powell said. \u201cI think that everyone should be recognized\u2014not just African Americans and Caucasians. I thought that it was too slanted towards black and white. I did not see people from Asian or Hispanic decent recognized.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lack of diversity and racism is not just present in Hollywood. It is an issue that cannot be solved through one night of protest and I agree with Rock in that there are more pressing matters to address than not receiving nominations at the Academy Awards. Rock kept focusing on more pressing issues of race, such as police shootings of black subjects. However, like Powell said above, the show seemed to focus entirely on the marginalization of black people instead of focusing on how Hollywood marginalizes everyone who isn\u2019t white and male. When the show did acknowledge other races, it piled on the stereotypes, such as using Asian kids to portray the accountants who tabulate the Oscar votes, hinting at the stereotype that all Asians are good at math.<\/p>\n

I agree with actress Tina Fey\u2019s comment regarding the Oscars:<\/p>\n

\u201cGuys, pick a lane. Like we\u2019re going to fix everything tonight. You\u2019re all rich. Why are you yelling at me about corporate greed?\u201d<\/p>\n

This is only one facet. This was only one night. Let\u2019s focus on the real issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY DANA REYNOLDS – STAFF WRITER Beginning with host Chris Rock\u2019s bold opening monologue and ending with the fiery, political anthem \u201cFight the Power\u201d by Public Enemy running over the credits, the 88th annual Academy Awards delivered a sustained and wildly messy attack on Hollywood\u2019s diversity problem. This year, uproar was unavoidable; for the second […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2718\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}