Oscar 2016 fever is catching up
with everyone. With so many people attached to this highly prestigious award in
movie making industry, it is impossible and rather stupid to imagine that
everyone will feel satisfied.
A rule may be like some, but may
be disliked by few. Oscar organizers have proposed changes in membership and
related rules and actor Stephen Furst, known for Babylon 5 and Animal House has
hit back on the changes publicly.
Taking into account the chaos
that has been created for the lack of diversity in the nominations, Academy
president Cheryl Boone Isaacs has pledged to double minority and female members.
Stephen Furst has blamed that
Academy was sexist and ageist as its members comprises mainly of older, white
men. The problem is that not all the movies are being watched by enough of
members.
There has been a lack of accountability
on the part of the Academy. No check is made on how many DVDs are being sent to
which member. Above all, there is no check whether these DVDs are being watched
or not.
In an open letter sent by Stephen
Furst and which was published on Variety states that the simple reason for the
lack of diversity in the nomination this year is that not all movies are being
watched by the Academy members.
In the four acting categories
there has been all white line up and this has caused uproar among film-makers
and actors. It is evident from the fact that actor Will Smith and his
wife-actress Jada Pinkett Smith and director Spike Lee have decided not to
attend Academy awards this year.
The Academy awards have long been
criticized for having the features of white, older, disproportionate and middle
class men.
Offended and Sadened
The Academy has responded to the
growing unrest in the movie industry and in an attempt to improve diversity in
leadership it has decided to create three new seats on its board of governors.
In another change, it has been
decided that members who have been inactive in the industry in the past decade
will be stripped of their voting rights.
Boone Isaacs, president of the
Academy mentioned that these moves will significantly change the composition of
the membership.
The recent move from the Academy
has not been accepted totally by actors like 60 year old Stephen Furst. He mentioned
that the latest move is quite disturbing and he felt saddened and offended. The
reason is older members like him have been up as scapegoat by the Academy to
divert the attention of people who are saying that there is lack of diversity
in the Academy Awards nomination this year.
Furst also added that just like
it is important to have diversity in movies, it is also important to have
diversity in Oscar nominations.
Passwords and Streaming
Straight Outta Compton, a movie
about rap group NWA has been nominated by Furst along with Beasts of No Nation
featuring Idris Elba and actors Jason Mitchell, Zoe Saldana, Abraham Atta, and
Tessa Thompson for awards.
The definition of who is an “inactive”
member from The Academy was also assessed by Furst and he found it troublesome
and he claimed that The Academy is not infected by racism but by integrity
issue.
Furst suggested that in case The
Academy really wants to get away with the issue of diversity than it should
stop sending screening DVDs. To make sure that the members have actually
watched the movies, a password protected streaming service should be installed.
It will enable The Academy to
keep a track on how many movies have been watched by which members.
According to BBC, in the end,
Stephen Furst added that in order to come out with fair and fine nominations in
the Oscar awards, this process will be really effective.
The Academy cannot control on
what is being made by studios and film producers, but the body can make it
compulsory for members to watch a certain percentage of movies before they can
be allowed to vote.
In case anyone falls below this
passing percentage, should obviously not be allowed to vote.
