"I gots a bunch of DVDs for all the big movies if you want 'em," says Tony, my curmudgeonly neighbor. Tony's a veteran Hollywood character actor who you've probably seen in dozens of films. He usually plays an Italian loud-mouthed wiseguy, which is appropriate as that's his personality off screen as well. Tony knows everyone in the "biz," and his best friend is one of this year's big Oscar nominees.
Tony offers me a long list of the year's best films that he can lend me. I ask for "Straight Outta Compton," and he let's out a dismissive grunt and shakes his head.
"You wanna watch that crap? You're welcome to it; I'm never going to watch it!"
"Why not?" I ask curiously.
"I can't stand rap music, it gives me a friggin' headache. Give me Sinatra any day over that God awful noise." Tony spends the next ten minutes trying to lobby me to take another film, but I insist on watching "Straight Outta Compton." Finally, he hands it over to me.
"Your loss!" he chortles, walking away, shaking his head.
Tony's not a racist in my book, by the way. He just has different tastes in movies and music than me. It's understandable. He's over sixty five and New York Italian to the core, so, of course, he'd rather watch "Brooklyn" than the acclaimed bio-pic of Ice Cube and Dr. Dre.
Tony's "take" is just an opinion, and it wouldn't matter much to anyone, except that Tony and his friends who are the ones who vote on the Oscars. It's this cultural and generational divide that in part explains why worthy African American films like "Straight Outta Compton," "Selma," and "The Butler" take a back seat to the likes of last year's best picture winner "Birdman." In the insular world of Hollywood, the struggles of African Americans living in poverty in the very city most Hollywood elites call home doesn't resonate much - the pathos of a washed up movie star trying to be taken seriously on Broadway, however, now that's a serious problem!
It's also interesting to note that when racism is tackled as an issue in many Hollywood films it's usually approached from the perspective of the African American/Latino characters being helpless victims who need a white savior to resolve their problems. Even the estimable "12 Years A Slave" had the main character saved by Brad Pitt's character in the end. Award winning films like "Mississippi Burning," "Driving Miss Daisy," or "The Help" preached this gospel as well. Meanwhile, Oscar voters are a lot less generous towards films like "Cesar Chavez," "Straight Outta Compton," and "Selma," where people of color fight racism without a white hero to lead them.
Although Tinsel Town touts itself as being a very progressive place that champions the important causes of social justice, in reality, the culture of Hollywood is one of "all" or "nothing." The business is brutal. Most actors are either incredibly famous and wealthy or struggling to make ends meet. The same goes for writers, producers, and directors. The elites who have risen to the very top of one of the business world's most challenging food chain didn't necessarily get there by being nice people. It's a dog eat dog world.
The liberal pretensions of Academy voters is further complicated by the fact that they mostly lead very sheltered lives. The people who vote for the Oscars don't live in Compton or Selma - they live in ritzy gated communities, and their kids attend exclusive private schools, such as the Buckley School in Sherman Oaks.
That's why on Oscar night, you'll get an earful about problems halfway across the world, such as the genocide in Darfur, but not a word about the serious problems going on in the schools and neighborhoods only a few miles away. No one preaches from the podium about improving the lives of low-income children living in Los Angeles. They talk about orphans in Africa. No one talks about the screwed up foster care system in LA county, or the problems with LAUSD, or the gang issues, or our homeless crisis...
Russel Crowe is more interested in making an international incident over his kid couldn't bring his hover board on an airplane than saying "boo" about the total lack of speaking parts for people of color in his last film "Noah." Discrimination, poverty , high crime, and police brutality are problems from another universe for most Academy members - even though they occur only a short distance from their stony mansions surrounded by security gates. We live in two different cities in Los Angeles. One fabulously rich, the other depressingly poor. It's a tale of two cities.
When I finally got a chance to watch Tony's screener of "Straight Outta Compton," I was blown away. In my opinion, it was one of the best films I saw all year. I admit, as a longtime fan of NWA, I might be a little biased, but this film had a genuinely dramatic and engaging story backed by superb direction and excellent performances. The soundtrack was electrifying. In short, it was an extremely well crafted film.
Now, I realize some people might be turned off by the film's gangsta antics and misogyny. Eazy E, Ice Cube and Dr. Dre were no angels. Still, the members of NWA are who they are, and the filmmakers chose wisely not to make them more likeable by turning them into One Direction. But love'em or hate 'em, their impact can't be denied - NWA was a cultural force that changed the world.
More importantly, "Straight Outta Compton" was a film with genuine depth and a relevant message about police brutality. In fact, it was the only film all year that talked about this issue with any conviction.
The Oscars would be so much more interesting if "Straight Outta Compton" was included in the nominations. Instead, it joins a long list of excellent films passed over year after year by the Academy. Is it a tragedy? No. You don't have to win an award to prove anything. Great films and artists stand the test of time, after all. The filmmakers of color who were snubbed by the Academy the last two years are doing just fine. They have a lot of name recognition and continue to work.
However, the problem is that the blinding white light of Oscar snubs really highlights a much larger problem in the entertainment industry and beyond: the fact that so many people of color aren't working.
Minorities make up more than 36 % of the U.S. population but represented only 10 % of lead characters in movies and sat in just 12 % of director’s chairs according to a study by USC’s Annenberg School For Communication & Journalism. Women who make up more than 50% of the US population sat in only 9% of the director's chairs. All this in spite of the fact that films with relatively diverse casts enjoyed the highest median global box office.
The Ralph Bunche Center study from last year also noted that while there's been small gains for minorities in the industry the overall landscape is virtually unchanged:
- Film studio heads were 94% white and 100% male
- Film studio senior management was 92% white and 83% male
- Film studio unit heads were 96% white and 61% male
- Television network and studio heads were 96% white and 71% male
- Television senior management was 93% white and 73% male
- Television unit heads were 86% white and 55% male
As many have noted, this lack of diversity in upper management, leads to the greenlighting and casting of projects that tend to reflect the ethnicity and cultural bias of the people making these crucial decisions. The rampant nepotism in the entertainment industry doesn't help either.
I've personally experienced that first hand. A script I wrote for MGM was given to a kid who was still in film school to direct. He wasn't especially talented, but his dad was one of the biggest entertainment lawyers in town and the producers told me they wanted to curry favor with him for future projects. As a result, I never got an opportunity to direct my own script. Scenes like this go on every day in Hollywood and no one bats an eye: that's just the biz, as they say.
Blatant racism is still alive and well in Hollywood too, folks. A few years ago I was told by a young film executive to write all the black characters completely out of a script. His justification was that black actors in the film would attract a large black audience, and according to him, "Black people talk too much in movie theaters" and this would distract "regular people" from enjoying the film. It literally took all the strength in my body not to pick up my laptop and smash him over the head with it.
My former agent, who was a partner at one of the biggest talent agencies in Hollywood, once told me point blank that I should stop writing black and Latino-themed projects because in his words, "There's no good actors to cast in them, and no studio wants to make that minority crap anyway."
As I said, my concern is not for Will Smith, or Ice Cube - but the impact that this lack of diversity and discrimination has on the non-celebrities trying to eek out a living. The problems that people of color, who aren't celebrities, face are very real and devastating. #Oscarsowhite won't change much until the industry as a whole acknowledges it is one of the least diverse in the country and works to change that arithmetic. It's stunning that there isn't a bigger movement to do so, since by every indication, including this study, diversity makes good business sense. Films with diverse casts make more money! So what gives? I ask you.
I suppose that's why I identified so strongly with "Straight Outta Compton." It spoke truth to me in a way few films did this year. Sadly, the struggles NWA rapped about decades ago--racism, poverty, drug abuse, income inequality, police brutality--are still very much alive in our communities and unlikely to go away any time soon.
It would be nice if someone at the Oscar stood up and talked about the problems with diversity in Hollywood, but then again, does it really matter? People in Hollywood have been talking for years about the problem and nothing's happened.
Hey, brainstorm idea here: instead of more talk, I'd actually like to see someone make a plan do something serious about the problem. Last year executives at CBS and others talked about plans to increase diversity, but no real plans emerged. In the end, they settled for throwing a few more people of color into the academy.
Great start, guys, but considering the nominations, I'd say a whole lot more work needs to be done. So this year, instead of blowing smoke up everyone's collective ass again, I'd like to see the industry leaders actually draw up concrete plans on how they're going to increase opportunities for people of color and women. Internships and invites to the Oscars are nice, but just giving someone who's qualified a friggin' job works well too.
Either way, it's time for the entertainment industry to stop pretending, for a moment, and face reality: They have a huge diversity problem on their hands and it's a disgrace. And no, closing your eyes and clicking your heels together three times won't make it go away.
No, in the real world, you actually have to do something about it.
For more random Diablo thoughts and artwork, visit www.diablocomics.com