Culture

Do it for the culture! Growing up in New Orleans, I learned a lot about Caribbean, French, African, and Spanish culture. New Orleans is a melting pot of everything. The architecture, the food, the music all have hints of previous communities that settled in the city. Culture has a lot to do with influence. If someone wanted to study your culture, what would they say would be your primary influence? Do you have a strong sense of self and community? What traditions do you have? What do you believe? What do you practice?  What have you produced? What does your cultural legacy look like? 

For Your Consideration

On the last day of Black History Month, I want to bring to light why representation matters in all forms of art, especially film. It's award season. The Academy Awards has come under scrutiny because of the #oscarssowhite controversy and the Moonlight mix up last year. For Your Consideration is a heading frequently used in advertisements in entertainment trade publications such as Variety, Backstage, and The Hollywood Reporter. They are directed towards members of awards voting groups in the entertainment industry, like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that annually presents the Academy Awards celebrating the best in motion pictures, or the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences which presents the Primetime Emmy Awards for television. 

For Your Consideration:

• In 2012, The Times reported that Oscar voters were 94% white and 77% male. Four years later, the academy has made scant progress: Oscar voters are 91% white and 76% male, according to a new Times study. Blacks are about 3% of the academy, up from 2%; Asians and Latinos are each just over 2%, with both groups up slightly.
• The executive branch, which finances the movies and determines what films warrant an awards campaign, is 98% white. The public relations branch, which strategizes those awards campaigns, is 95% white.
• Jordan Peele is just the fifth black director nominated for the award, a distinguished group that includes John Singleton for 1991’s “Boyz n the Hood,” Lee Daniels for 2009’s “Precious,” Steve McQueen for 2013’s “12 Years a Slave” and Barry Jenkins for last year’s best-picture winner, “Moonlight.”
• No female black directors – no, not even Ava DuVernay or Dee Rees – have ever been nominated for a directing Oscar.

• In a unanimous vote on 1/21/16, the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences approved a sweeping series of substantive changes designed to make the Academy’s membership, its governing bodies, and its voting members significantly more diverse.  The Board’s goal is to commit to doubling the number of women and diverse members of the Academy by 2020.

• http://www.vulture.com/2018/02/how-new-oscar-voters-are-changing-the-way-the-academy-thinks.html