Hollywood’s
discrimination of Gender and ethnicity
In present time discrimination is most definitely expressed in
Hollywood, most commonly in the forms of Racism and sexism[EW1] . All actors should have
equal rights and opportunities despite their ethnic group, religion or gender. Recently
Chris Rock became the first brown skinned host of the Oscars. The issue of discrimination
in the U.S film industry needs to be addressed and provisions need to be made
to make sure the industry become more inclusive as events involving 'Hollywood'
are viewed by so many people around the world and at the moment it is a global
crisis that an atrocious example [EW2] is being set for the
younger population. Also Jennifer Lawrence spoke out about the pay gap between
male and females, the sexism issue in Hollywood is another one that needs to be
resolved. These
events have brought to light issues that have been going on for many years in
Hollywood. [EW3]
White People’s Choice Award
At the most recent Oscars there was tension as many actors boycotted
the event because they believe there isn’t enough ethnic diversity between
award nominees. [EW4] Even though Chris Rock;
the 2016 host and the only black person that has ever hosted the Oscars
attended the event he definitely praised the actors who had the bravery to
boycott it. [EW5] Will Smith was among the group that boycotted, he said “I think
that diversity is the American superpower. That’s why we are great. So many
different people from so many different places adding their ideas and their
inspiration and their influences to this beautiful American gumbo”, and then he
added “When I look at the series of nominations of the academy, it’s not
reflecting that beauty” and he isn’t wrong as for the second year in a row, not a single non-white actor has
been nominated for an award of any type at the Academy Awards. [EW6] In 2002 Halle Berry became the
first black woman to win the best actress Academy Award[EW7] . After her win, Berry said the real
celebration would come when black actresses and actors up for the major awards
were so commonplace that race was not an issue. [EW8]
‘Aloha’ deemed racist
In a much broader view,
forgetting the Oscars, Hollywood is still deemed racist. Over the years many controversial
casting decisions have been made and many actors have seen to be racist in the
ways they have played certain roles. [EW9] In the 2015 movie 'Aloha'
Emma Stone's character 'Captain Allison Ng' was supposed to be played by
someone who is a quarter Hawaiian and a quarter Chinese. The film makers were
accused of 'Whitewashing’ the cast, white washing is a term used to describe
how something has been removed from its original ethnic heritage. Another
example is the
1961 portrayal of Mr Yunioshi done by Mickey Rooney in the classic film
"Breakfast at Tiffany's” was a disgrace to the U.S film industry. Instead
of the casting team finding an Asian actor to play the position, they had
Rooney do it; an American actor born and bred in New York City. [EW10] Rooney faked a stereotypical Asian accent and taped his eyelids to
make them look as if he was Asian. This is a prominent example of how back in
the day Hollywood viewed East Asians, they called this ‘Yellow face’, similar
to ‘Blackface’ which was again an issue with Hollywood and how Caucasian people
would paint themselves brown to play the positions of African American people
in plays and films. This is unacceptable and being such an aged example it
demonstrates how long this issue has been around for. Movie star Will Smith
says Hollywood is not prejudiced against black actors, just against
unsuccessful actors. "The execs don't care about what colour you are, they
care about how much money you make," he said, many people do not agree to
his statement and even he has questioned it in the past.
Sexist pay gap
The Pay gap between men
and women is another
prominent problem for Hollywood and its discrimination issues. [EW11] This is an issue where men are being paid a significant amount
more for acting in movies than woman are. Recently Jennifer Lawrence spoke out
about this pay gap and she was backed
up by Emma Watson and Bradley Cooper majorly. Lawrence and Cooper both acted in
David O’Russels ‘American Hustle’ and Cooper was paid a significant amount more
than Lawrence for doing the movie. Jennifer
Lawrence is sick of the pay gap completely and she wasn’t getting anywhere with
her battle, saying “I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early,”
she admits. “I didn’t want to keep fighting over millions of dollars that,
frankly, due to two franchises, I don’t need” then she added, “I’m over trying
to find the ‘adorable’ way to state my opinion and still be likable. Fuck
that.” Honestly there shouldn’t be a pay gap in Hollywood or any area of work
frankly, you should be paid for the effort that goes in to the work and the
quality of the end result[EW12] . This is the reason that
the pay gap in Hollywood should be terminated.
327 nominations for woman, 1387 for men
Hollywood isn’t only sexist in ways involving money either;
also the U.S film industry is known for its sexism in many other fields too[EW13] . [EW14] Females rarely ever get positions as directors, producers and
screen writers even when they have the skills in order to do so. There are
many film making companies in America that have the tendencies to just turn
away a female or to choose a male over the female even if the females work is
better; Emma Watson said “I have experienced sexism in that I have been
directed by male directors 17 times and only twice by woman”, the ratio would
be much more even if there wasn’t a sexism problem but the job of a director is
seen to being prominently a male opportunity in Hollywood. [EW15] The Oscars may also have a sexism problem as well as their racism one, women have received
327 nominations since 2006 while men have earned 1,387. Statistics show that this isn't as
bad as what it may sound and is getting better. A study, “Gender Equality in
500 Popular Films,” looked at the top 100 grossing films between 2007 and
2012. [EW16] This study showed[EW17] that the percentage of female produced films was increasing.
People believe that the
issues with ethnic group and gender are definitely ones that need to be
resolved by the U.S film industry before they can move much further in the
modern world, otherwise the boycotted issue at the Oscars will get bigger and
bigger before Hollywood plummets. Many more actors will continue to speak out
about the issues in the U.S film Industry causing havoc for everyone involved
in Hollywood[EW18] [EW19] [EW20] .
Reference list
Hunter, R. (2013). It’s money not sexism. Retrieved
from:
http://filmschoolrejects.com/opinions/women-underrepresented-in-hollywood-not-due-to-sexism.php
BBC. (2003). Actor Will Smith say Hollywood not Racist.
Retrieved from: http://www.rense.com/general42/holly.htm
Unsure of Author. (2016). 13
times Hollywood made totally racist casting decisions. Retrieved from:
Robinson, J. (2016). Sexism at
Oscars may be worse than you think. Retrieved from:
Shepard, J. (2016). Everyone who boycotted the
Academy Awards. Retrieved from: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/oscars-2016-everyone-boycotting-the-academy-awards-and-why-from-jada-pinkett-smith-to-spike-lee-a6902121.html
