Stop Telling Me Not To Care About The Oscars

The Oscar nominations were released earlier this week, and there are two overwhelming opinions: “It is outrageous that most of the nominees are white men,” and “Who cares about the Oscars?” Not surprisingly, the latter was mostly expressed by white men, and the former by...everyone else.

I guess its easy for a group of people not to care too much about an award when it seems really easy for them to get. Like remember when you used to get a certificate and a personal pan pizza for reading like five books a month, and they didn’t even have to be chapter books? I was like, already reading a Goosebumps a day at that time, so I definitely took those pizza awards for granted. In fact, everyone I knew was already reading Babysitter’s Club and shit, so we really were not trying to give a shit about anybody who wasn’t invited to the pizza party. So white dudes, since you know you are always going to be invited to the party, I get why you might think the Oscars don’t matter.

Personally, I haven’t watched the Oscars in years, and probably won’t this year. I rarely have seen any of the nominated movies, and don’t give enough of a shit to binge-watch them leading up to the ceremony. And since I live in LA and can see people cry through their Botox at whatever Starbucks I want, there isn’t really a compelling reason for me to watch. This year, I haven’t seen any of the movies nominated, and probably won’t. Actually, it is entirely possible that I haven't watched any movies in over a year. I think I watched Wreck It Ralph with my friend's kid... that may have been over a year ago.

And I still think the Oscars matter. Or at least I think The Oscars matter equally as much as movies matter. Here's why:

Movies Missed The Memo

As far as I’m concerned, movies ain’t shit. Television has made, and continues to make, huge strides towards more inclusivity and diversity. Reigning Goddess of Television Shonda Rhimes has ensured that television networks understand that more diverse voices (actors and writers) means more viewers. It is simply more marketable and better business to appeal to more people by telling stories that are specific and relatable to their experiences. I personally love watching the characters she’s created, such as Dr. Bailey, Olivia Pope, and Annalise Keating, because I belong to the same group they do--women who are really terrible at relationships.

And so viewers like me have made those shows some of the most popular on television (and some of the few that people actually watch ON television). And thanks to the Shonda-fairy ABC now owns the coveted Thursday night lineup. And the other networks have followed suit with more diverse content.

Major movie studios have not gotten the memo on this. The majority of big Hollywood blockbusters are still made by, for, and about white men. And as we know from the Sony hack, this is not a coincidence, but a conscious choice made by studio execs. That really should go without saying, but if I had a dollar for every time someone tried to tell me there were less actors of color in movies because “maybe none showed up to the auditions,” I could finance a superhero movie.

For the record, actors don’t “show up to auditions.” They get invited. And there are FAR more invitations sent out to white men than anyone else. There are a ton of reasons for this, but none of them are that actors of color just keep forgetting to show up on audition day. Nor is it female writers and writers of color neglecting to turn on their computers and write movies. It is because studio execs think it is more marketable to make movies about white men. And not only are there way less parts available for women and actors of color (not to mention way less writing opportunities for non-white men writers) when women do get a gig, they are paid less!

Hollywood & Republicans: Same White Male Strategy

So really, who gives a shit about movies? Indie movies can be pretty cool. But when it comes to big Hollywood movies, how can you run a whole industry catering to only one group of people? As the Republicans have been freaking out about for years, you can’t run a business on white men alone.

I’m declaring movies a dead art form. Movies are like Opera now. The tickets are too expensive and they’re telling the same story over and over. Just like there are only like five operas (I assume. I mean, I can’t name more than five), there are only like 20 movies. Batman, Group of Superheros or Group of Hobbits, James Bond, A Star War, Based on a Fairy Tale or a Fantasy Novel, and Based on a Section of Disneyland (yes, sadly, that last one is real).

With the exception of Selma, all the movies nominated for Best Picture this year are the same movie: Biopic About A White Guy.

So, why do the Oscars matter?

Because The Academy is still 94 percent white and 77 percent male. And in case you haven’t noticed, America isn’t. So sure, maybe the Oscars are mostly a competition between PR firms. But they are still a pretty representative sample of the movies that were made this year. And those movies do not accurately reflect the country, or the movie going audiences. Women and people of color buy movie tickets too (actually studies show that they buy more movie tickets/spend more of their disposable income on entertainment than white men do). Shouldn’t they be allowed to complain when the industry doesn’t produce the kind of options they’d like to spend their money on?

Studio execs think people won’t go to see movies with female protagonists and/or protagonists who aren’t white. Doesn't it make sense that people who disagree tell the studios through the only method available to them, social media? They can’t prove their point by “voting with their dollars” if no major studio non-white male protagonists movies are actually made for them to buy tickets to. Shouldn’t consumers be allowed to express their desire for a better product? Isn’t that what capitalism is? And isn’t capitalism our greatest American value?

Don't Tell Us What To Focus On

Also, what is it with telling women and people of color what to focus their energy on anyway? Do you really think that there should be a limit to the areas we get fight for equality in? Is it really bugging you that much for your female co-worker to wish that someone with a vagina could get a fucking nomination? Like, is your life so delicate that you can’t handle her 140 character tweet about it and you had to inform her that she “shouldn’t” care about what she cares about? Has Halle Berry won an Oscar lately? Because otherwise, why does she keep coming up in the conversation about THIS YEAR’S Oscars? Can women and people of color get a break, please? Y’all can argue for WEEKS about that fucking extra light line on that light saber sword thingy, but we spend TWO DAYS wishing somebody Chinese could win some shit for once and you HAVE to tell us our thing doesn’t matter?!

Equality doesn’t just mean equality for life or death situations, or for shit you care about. It means equality. For everything. That doesn't mean you have to fight or care about every battle. But it does mean that, if a particular issue doesn’t matter to you either way, you can be quiet and let the people who do care have their moment.

So please stop telling me the Oscars don’t matter. I’m trying to watch BoJack Horseman (a television show, on Netflix, starring a horse… take that, movies).

Ashley Nicole Black is an actress/ writer based in Los Angeles. You can follow her on twitter @ashleyn1cole