A Letter to Hollywood
Joker, the film showcasing a failing comedian’s descent into madness, and origin story for the criminal mastermind and Batman villain, was recently nominated for 11 out of 24 total awards for the Oscar Awards show this 9th of February. These nominations include the big one, Best Picture.
In response to the supposed scandal, Variety Magazine published an article, stating that “Only five women have ever been nominated for director, and only one, Kathryn Bigelow (The Hurt Locker) has ever won the prize”. For me, this passage comes off as the writer wanting to forcefully push diversity into the Oscars, instead of genuinely awarding the best films of the year.
This isn’t the only time accusations like these have been made. It seems like now the goal of creating a movie is no longer making it deep and worthwhile, but something that also doubles into a social statement.
Diversity in media is important, in the sense that people who create things deserve recognition regardless of their ethnicity or minority group. Having all kinds of people in films or shows is enjoyable when done tastefully, but it’s hard to believe types of diversity are genuine when filmmakers and other content creators are pressured into meeting the quota, suddenly rebooting movies with an all-female cast, telling your audience an established character is gay ten years after the character was introduced, or somehow nominating Marvel’s Black Panther for Best Picture. Still, this isn’t always the case. We can have movies or shows that show us all kinds of people and don’t come off as annoying or forced, and successfully make this topic feel more genuine.
Several appropriate examples in media were done right, like Netflix’s TV hit, Black Mirror. In this series, characters are different every episode and are placed into dystopian scenarios supposedly happening in the near future. From robotic bees attacking people, to others falling in love through a virtual reality game, there’s no shortage of diversity and Netflix does its best to leave you alone because they know you just want to watch TV.
The idea to make everything as inclusive as possible is harming media culture, not because having a black lesbian lead in your movie is bad, but because there’s no need to bash movies or shows for not representing every existing minority group.