Race Grievance Industry Will Protest All White Oscar Nominees

[unregistered]

 

[1sickbastard]

Big fucking deal.
It's just entertainment, a puppet show designed to distract with yet more inconsequential bullshit.

 

[IrezumiKiss]

Shouldn't this be in your Racial Fatigue thread, Vette?

It's quickly becoming the de facto Politics Board catchall thread for all things racial (well, 98% negativity over black people's doings and whatnots.)

 

[unregistered]

 

[IrezumiKiss]

Non responsive.

You're saying that the racial fatigue thread is dead, huh?

Not often that I agree with you, buddy.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Apparently they believe minorities are "entitled" to nominations based on skin color in the absence of artful performance. What else can it be? Oh wait, Hollywood liberals are racist:

Well, you know, it is true that AA actors were all but completely frozen out of the Oscars for a long time, so one can understand their sensitivity on the point. And, at the time, that was partly because they couldn't land Oscar-material parts, they could only get cast as servants and things, or no Southern theater would show the movie. (There was a genre of "race movies," made by blacks for blacks and seen by practically no one else, but none of those films were ever even considered by the Academy AFAIK.) And that's not true any more, black actors get all kinds of roles now, and many of them are very good actors indeed, and there are a lot of them. So it's not entirely unreasonable of them to assume that one or two would at least get nominated for some Oscar or other every year, as a matter of course, if the Academy were being entirely fair and colorblind.

 

[Disgustipated]

Fucking Hollywood Liberals and their racist movies like the right leaning blockbuster American Sniper.

 

[Sean Renaud]

Apparently they believe minorities are "entitled" to nominations based on skin color in the absence of artful performance. What else can it be? Oh wait, Hollywood liberals are racist:

Oscar protest planned over all-white nominees
AFP By Guillaume Meyer
February 21, 2015 3:59 AM

Hollywood (United States) (AFP) - African-American civil rights groups plan to protest outside Sunday's Oscars show, where every single one of this year's 20 acting nominees is white.

Read about it here:

http://news.yahoo.com/oscar-protest-planned-over-white-nominees-085942047.html

When was it claimed that Hollywood wasn't racist. . .or was liberal by anybody who wasn't a crazy right winger. I assume you saw Selma and found it to be a poor movie that have only got the single nomination it got?

I don't really CARE about the Oscars one way or another but I doubt that this complete lack of nomination isn't at least partially driven by race. It's just not a hill I think is worth dying on, or really standing on. Call me crazy I'm more worried about police brutality, police increased searching, higher incarceration rates for the same crimes, lack of available opportunity, so on and so forth than that.

Hell I'm more concerned with the movie and music industry as a whole than I am a lack of Oscars.

I think it's telling when the Avengers, debatably the biggest franchise going right now (if you fold in the rest of the MCI) and it might end up bigger than any franchise not called James Bond. (And Bond cheats, if Connery and Craig are supposed to be the same guy in the same franchise then Bela Lugosi and Jonathan Rhys Meyers are the same guy.) as of the first team up had more one more Green guy than black. And one more Alien/God. So yeah, still a problem.

 

[KingOrfeo]

Hollywood Values:

The perception that Hollywood is a subversive force in American culture, spreading liberalism and secularism and undermining Real American Values,™ is still widespread within a certain section of the populace. Andrew Breitbart, for example, built a cottage industry promoting the idea that conservative actors and filmmakers are actively persecuted by Hollywood's "liberal elite" and prevented from getting work in the film industry.[14]

Let us ignore the fact that the "liberal" Hollywood machine cranked out three gung-ho Transformers movies that got progressively more militaristic (and awful) as the franchise went on,[15] as well as the two-hour Marine recruitment ad known as Battle: Los Angeles and the pro-PATRIOT Act, pro-War on Terror blockbuster The Dark Knight.[16] Or the fact that they have shown themselves, over and over again, to be decades behind the times when it comes to what's acceptable regarding race, gender, and indeed just about any cultural issue.[17][18] Or the fact that Adam Sandler, a registered Republican who recently made a hit comedy built almost entirely around a homophobic premise,[19] is still one of the biggest comedic stars in Hollywood despite the fact that everyone many people feel that he stopped being funny years ago. Or that it's nearly impossible for a mainstream Hollywood movie to portray an atheist character who isn't a jerk, doesn't have loose morals, didn't get dealt a bad hand by life (thus explaining why they don't believe in God), and/or doesn't convert to Christianity by the end of the movie.[20]

So yes. Hollywood is clearly a very liberal place. Just keep saying it.

A reality check

The bottom line is that Hollywood is run by major corporations. Whatever the personal convictions of individual movie stars may be, the real movers and shakers in Hollywood are the CEOs, chairpersons and executives of the studios. They make movies with liberal messages because they will make money in the blue states, just as they make movies with conservative messages (such as the aforementioned Transformers movies, The Dark Knight, the Iron Man films, etc.) because those will make money in the red states.[21] If Hollywood is liberal, then it is classically liberal, its chief ideology being rooted in profit and keeping the censors off their backs.

Left-wing criticism of Hollywood

The only part of the American film industry that can truly be said to have a left-wing slant is the indie/arthouse/film festival scene (Tribeca, Sundance, and so on), which, while it does employ Hollywood talent on numerous occasions, is by definition not part of the mainstream Hollywood system. In fact, many liberal actors and filmmakers turn to indie filmmaking because they think Hollywood is too stifling. This is far from unique to the film industry; the modern "indie" scene is deeply embedded within the urban artist (or, more pejoratively, "hipster") culture, and its politics can be far more easily traced to that scene's countercultural beliefs than to anything in Hollywood.

Furthermore, many leftists would likely give you an earful if you ever told them that Hollywood was a subversive, radical force. The claim of "Hollywood values" has a mirror counterpart among both leftists and non-American (especially non-Western) nationalists. To them, Hollywood's commanding position in the global pop culture is seen as a tool of American "cultural imperialism," pushing American consumerist values and a whitewashed image of the nation's social life and military.[22] Consequently, for many countries that seek to protect and promote a certain vision of their own culture (for better or worse), the first step in doing so is censoring Hollywood movies and other American cultural products. China is arguably the most famous example of this today.[23]

In short, if Breitbart, et al. really wanted to look for lefties within the film industry, they should've started in Silver Lake and Echo Park rather than Hollywood and Burbank.

BTW . . . from the same article:

However, by the late '60s the "Big Three" American television networks (CBS, NBC, and ABC) had discovered, through the study of demographics, that a lot of what they thought were their most highly-rated hits were, in fact, doing poorly among the viewers that the marketers who paid their bills craved — namely, young and middle-aged people in the cities and suburbs with disposable income. This was most pronounced at CBS, which had the highest ratings but the worst demographics as its viewership skewed overwhelmingly towards older viewers and people in rural areas, demographics that advertisers didn't care for due to their comparative lack of purchasing power. In the '60s, they were nicknamed the "Country Broadcasting System" due to the stereotype of their viewership being composed of farm boys and retirees, quickly canceling any show that attracted the slightest bit of controversy.[10] NBC also discovered just too late that Star Trek, a seemingly low-rated show that they had just canceled, would've actually been measured as one of their biggest hits had they applied the use of demographics just a few years earlier.

*sob* *sniff* Oh, what might have been . . .

 

[Que]

Correlation does not equal causation. Nominations and votes reflect the subjective judgment of those that viewed and voted on the films. I will allow that since most humans have a tendency to like films in which they can see themselves in a positive role and part of that, likely is the "looks like me" aspect of it.

Where the idea of protesting falls down is you have to have a rather specific alternative to the slate. I have heard Sema for example, but absent an out of the ballpark performance one can point to, the performances and the audiece's subjective judgment is as it is.

If, in the unlikely event, some of the best actors who are black all turn in stellar performances in great scripts in well produced and promoted movies and happen to sweep the nomination all out of their proportion to membership in the academy or society at large are these same protesters willing to accept the charge that the Academy was pandering rather than that those actors all earned their nominations?

 

[Sean Renaud]

Correlation does not equal causation. Nominations and votes reflect the subjective judgment of those that viewed and voted on the films. I will allow that since most humans have a tendency to like films in which they can see themselves in a positive role and part of that, likely is the "looks like me" aspect of it.

Where the idea of protesting falls down is you have to have a rather specific alternative to the slate. I have heard Sema for example, but absent an out of the ballpark performance one can point to, the performances and the audiece's subjective judgment is as it is.

If, in the unlikely event, some of the best actors who are black all turn in stellar performances in great scripts in well produced and promoted movies and happen to sweep the nomination all out of their proportion to membership in the academy or society at large are these same protesters willing to accept the charge that the Academy was pandering rather than that those actors all earned their nominations?

You are correct that correlation does not equal causation. (Though Jamie Foxx not winning for Collateral. . .you have to make some bold moves to justify that one.) But as I've said before in some cases when it comes to charges of various 'isms' it doesn't need to be true, the person, the person on one end needs to FEEL like it's true and that the pattern is repeated often enough that they believe it. If it's not true, leave it alone long enough and usually the feeling will go away, if it is true. . .well that's another issue.

Protesting an award show is ultimately stupid unless it does something really, really out there. I mean it's an award show and one that it is ultimately ignored (save for the dresses) by a lot of people because it's really just a Hollywood stroke off. They purposely save movies that nobody wants to see (and they know nobody wants to see) for November-January so they are still fresh in people's minds when the awards come up and so they don't compete with movies people want to watch. We can debate all day about Selma, it's importance to culture, and Big Hero 6. . .but they dodged that movie on purpose. Fuck em.

In that unlikely event how would it be pandering and not the perfect storm. That's one thing that people seem to easily forget. If hypothetically next year Tyler Perry puts out the perfect movie and gets everything and the majority of viewers agree it's the perfect movie, not pretty good, not good but not great, but an instant classic that should be held up against things like Shawshank Redemption and Citizen Kane, that wouldn't be pandering. That would be, like Obama or Ben Carson, the Exception that proves the rule. There is always ONE. Eminem does not prove that white people rap, the Rock doesn't prove that pro-wrestlers are great actors. In fact these things all stand out because they don't happen.

 

[Que]

Always appreciate the thought that you put into your posts, Sean.


I drove my mom down from Oregon to AZ and probably got in range of both you and Botany at one point or another, but I figured my 75 1/2 year old mother was not down for a toke or a beer. Kind of a pussy move on my part not to actually ask her. She is getting more open minded as she ages.

Mostly, I decided I hate LA traffic.

WTF?

You people are spending like money is sand. I got no problem with a population base that size buying some bags of concrete. After 20 miles in four hours I cried uncle and got us a room at a Chihuahua infested Motel 6. (not hyperbole there were like 6 of them, all barking)

About where we got off the freeway, there was a big construction ramp to bring MORE cars from the north somewhere. Why would you add MORE ramps and not MORE lanes? Double-stack that bitch is all I am saying. I had 4 hours to engineer a design in my head. If you know anyone in the Highway department, lemme know. I will explain to them how traffic works. Apparently you have no engineers or efficiency experts in California.

 

[Sean Renaud]

I generally try not to just shit on people, and to give actual thought out answers. For the record I'm not saying that it's impossible the Oscars might pander next year and decide that some film that really doesn't deserve it at least gets a nomination, I'm saying your example was bad I'm saying I hope you'd just laugh in my face and walk away if I said:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/smgphotogallery/bigleadsports/mu/yao-ming-is-tall/700/yao.jpg​

Asians are tall and blacks are short! (Even though Jordan isn't short by any standard that doesn't involve guys like Shack and Yao Ming here, and Yao Ming. . .again the exception that proves the rule.

Everybody hates LA traffic, you were probably an hour or two from me. I pretty much refuse to drive in it. I'll invite people I haven't hung out with for years to go to concerts if they'll drive.

I think after a few earthquakes we're squeamish about double stacking but. . .I hear you brother. I hate that place with a goddamn passion. And I love my state and I'm proud of my state but fuck LA traffic. And if it was raining. . . all bets are off. We see rain once a year, and see "real" rain once every three or so. We have no idea what to do with it so we freak the fuck out.

 

[Que]

The thing about the mindset that leads to "protesting" is it changes nothing and it polarizes people.

There are lots of great black actors. Any actor is only as good as the role and that involves the script, direction, editing and production. Marketing and release details matter. You are right that my example would involve way too many impossible variables.

Lets say that there are a couple of good performances next year. No one disputes that all 5 best actor nominee performances were strong. If Denzel wins next year will people think it was a little bump he got out of academy guilt for this year? It would be wrong to assume that, but people will. Thats why the protest is a bad idea.

 

[CandiCame]

When was it claimed that Hollywood wasn't racist. . .or was liberal by anybody who wasn't a crazy right winger. I assume you saw Selma and found it to be a poor movie that have only got the single nomination it got?

I don't really CARE about the Oscars one way or another but I doubt that this complete lack of nomination isn't at least partially driven by race. It's just not a hill I think is worth dying on, or really standing on. Call me crazy I'm more worried about police brutality, police increased searching, higher incarceration rates for the same crimes, lack of available opportunity, so on and so forth than that.

Hell I'm more concerned with the movie and music industry as a whole than I am a lack of Oscars.

I think it's telling when the Avengers, debatably the biggest franchise going right now (if you fold in the rest of the MCI) and it might end up bigger than any franchise not called James Bond. (And Bond cheats, if Connery and Craig are supposed to be the same guy in the same franchise then Bela Lugosi and Jonathan Rhys Meyers are the same guy.) as of the first team up had more one more Green guy than black. And one more Alien/God. So yeah, still a problem.

Are they the same guy? I always thought "James Bond" was a codename. Like you just got it as a sort of rank when you were badass enough. And that's why they have different faces and personalities.

Also, yes Hollywood is racist. And I don't know what the Race Grievance Industry is but I want in on it.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Well, you know, it is true that AA actors were all but completely frozen out of the Oscars for a long time, so one can understand their sensitivity on the point. And, at the time, that was partly because they couldn't land Oscar-material parts, they could only get cast as servants and things, or no Southern theater would show the movie. (There was a genre of "race movies," made by blacks for blacks and seen by practically no one else, but none of those films were ever even considered by the Academy AFAIK.) And that's not true any more, black actors get all kinds of roles now, and many of them are very good actors indeed, and there are a lot of them. So it's not entirely unreasonable of them to assume that one or two would at least get nominated for some Oscar or other every year, as a matter of course, if the Academy were being entirely fair and colorblind.

The only game niggers play better than basketball is a game called WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM A GUY WITH A BROKEN LEG. Whites call their game, PTSD.

 

[unregistered]

 

[KingOrfeo]

Are they the same guy? I always thought "James Bond" was a codename. Like you just got it as a sort of rank when you were badass enough. And that's why they have different faces and personalities.

No, the film series assumed it was the same person throughout, and I never saw any suggestion "James Bond" was a codename. "007" was a code-designation, of course (the "00" signifying license to kill, and there were several "00" agents).

 

[NeverEndingMe]

just a sore loser ... or loser in general?

Shouldn't this be in your Racial Fatigue thread, Vette?

It's quickly becoming the de facto Politics Board catchall thread for all things racial (well, 98% negativity over black people's doings and whatnots.)

 

[Sean Renaud]

The thing about the mindset that leads to "protesting" is it changes nothing and it polarizes people.

There are lots of great black actors. Any actor is only as good as the role and that involves the script, direction, editing and production. Marketing and release details matter. You are right that my example would involve way too many impossible variables.

Lets say that there are a couple of good performances next year. No one disputes that all 5 best actor nominee performances were strong. If Denzel wins next year will people think it was a little bump he got out of academy guilt for this year? It would be wrong to assume that, but people will. Thats why the protest is a bad idea.

I would argue that the Civil Rights protests both polarized and changed things and so have many other protests. And how long precisely are you as a victim supposed to simply ignore an issue?

Lets say the similar scenario Query. There are a couple of good performances, since none of us know anybody on the official nomination crew lets say the general public agrees that Denzel, Jamie Foxx and Morgan Freeman all put out excellent performances and again NONE get the nod. Since this award is (within the industry) a measure of your talent how long does it make sense to know that people think you deserve something that you aren't getting. I'm sure there is a certain amount of lost revenue that goes with that. It's not as if movies don't advertise " Starring three time golden globe nominated, two time winner blah blah blah." So in addition to a loss of praise you're quite possibly losing money.

It's easy to say you shouldn't protest when you're winning. Again, fuck the awards. I think there are MUCH bigger issues with Hollywood.

http://colorlines.com/assets_c/2010/07/airbender_cast_071310-thumb-640xauto-285.jpg​

Like that. There is ZERO excuse there and we're not allowed to call M.Night a racist because somehow him being of Indian decent excuses him making the brown good guys into white good guys and the white bad guy into a brown bad guy. FUCK HIM. Racist prick.

Are they the same guy? I always thought "James Bond" was a codename. Like you just got it as a sort of rank when you were badass enough. And that's why they have different faces and personalities.

Also, yes Hollywood is racist. And I don't know what the Race Grievance Industry is but I want in on it.

Yes Bond has always been assumed to be the same person, as of Skyfall it's completely cannon. The Bonds are some sort of low level nobles. The kind far enough up the food chain to have a castle, and far enough down that people don't automatically put two and two together when they see his face.

 

[Sean Renaud]

Since 1929 7% of the Best Actor awards have gone to black men, just about their percentage of the population. If there is an under represented demographic it might be black women, Halle Berry being the first in 2002. Let's face it the industry has a huge white majority, so awards are going to go in large part to those with the most participation. How many white men have won the NBA MVP Award in the last twenty years or so?

Citation is needed. This sounds unlikely but 7% and until 2002 no women. . .so roughly half our percentage of the population and few women?

Yes the industry does have a huge white majority, so does America in general. The comparison to the NBA is a poor one that is a place where for whatever reason (I blame lack of opportunity in other fields personally) blacks have consistently outperformed, it's not that whites got snubbed. There is a difference you know.

 

[unregistered]

 

[Sean Renaud]

No there isn't. The NBA is a black dominated industry, Hollywood is a white dominated industry, The analogy is really quite simple and correct, both have award recipients generated by and commensurate with a very skilled majority.

The NBA is black dominated entirely based on skill, Hollywood is white dominated based on political power, same way Washington is white dominated based on politlcal power and the 1% are White dominated based on politlcal power.

One is a meritocracy, the others are not and nobody even really pretends that they are.

 

[NeverEndingMe]

The NBA is black dominated entirely based on skill, Hollywood is white dominated based on political power, same way Washington is white dominated based on politlcal power and the 1% are White dominated based on politlcal power.

One is a meritocracy, the others are not and nobody even really pretends that they are.

idiot

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

The thing about the mindset that leads to "protesting" is it changes nothing and it polarizes people.

There are lots of great black actors. Any actor is only as good as the role and that involves the script, direction, editing and production. Marketing and release details matter. You are right that my example would involve way too many impossible variables.

Lets say that there are a couple of good performances next year. No one disputes that all 5 best actor nominee performances were strong. If Denzel wins next year will people think it was a little bump he got out of academy guilt for this year? It would be wrong to assume that, but people will. Thats why the protest is a bad idea.

Naah. I cant name any black actor screwed outta an Oscar for a superlative performance, not since Sidney Poitier got his Oscar in the 60s. Niggers aren't owed Oscars. Plenty of films get feel-good awards and vanish forever....because theyre crap.