Facing backlash over the Oscars’ announcement of its all-white actor nominations, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released a statement on Friday committing to increase diversity among its board and general members. The goal is to double the number of women and minorities in the Academy by 2020. One of the major strategies the board will employ to diversify Academy membership is to review the voting status of members every 10 years. Those who have been inactive in the film industry over that period may see their voting rights revoked, leaving room for more diverse voters to take their place. Three board positions will also be added, supposedly to be filled by women and/or minority movie professionals.
Dissenters argue that true diversity within the Academy must follow diverse representation in the industry at large. “If the majority of roles are taken by white actors and directors, it’s no wonder that most/all of the nominations go to them,” one commenter writes on the New York Times website. Anticipating this point of view, Academy President Cheryl Boone Isaacs (who is black) said, “The Academy is going to lead and not wait for the industry to catch up.” Others have noted that there were in fact plenty of minority actors for Academy voters to choose from in this year’s best movies, including Idris Elba, Will Smith and transgender actresses Kitana Kiki Rodrigues and Maya Taylor.
In this classic “chicken or the egg” conundrum, the Academy hopes to set the standard for motion pictures to become far more inclusive than they are, rather than have the Award votes, nominees and winners simply reflect the current white male domination in film. This may only be one step in the right direction, but it is still a significant and highly symbolic one.
If you’re wondering why it took so long for the Academy to pledge to increase diversity, it’s because the past two #OscarsSoWhite years have been an anomaly. From 2004 to 2014, 24 of 200 acting nominees were black, a proportion that reflects national demographics pretty accurately, according to the New York Times. Read: 2015 and 2016 marked a surprising and unwelcome regression for diversity, which prompted the Academy’s decision to recruit more diverse members from around the world. Here’s to hoping these changes act as a wake-up call for Hollywood to start representing all communities.