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Editor's Note: Loraine Ng is a Shanghai-based writer and translator, holding a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Hong Kong Baptist University. The article reflects the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the CGTN.
In 2005, the Oscars were the first Asian to win an Oscar for best director when Ang Lee won the trophy.
The same year, the first gay relationship on the screen with Brokeback Mountain, but loses the best picture against Crash . Producer James Schamus claimed that the Academy loved playing cautiously.
In 2010, Hurt Locker won six awards, including best film and director, as well as three nominations. When the Academy and the public applauded the success of Kathryn Bigelow, the first woman to win an Academy Award for Best Director, some saw it as a propaganda of America's dominant values.
Then, in 2016, the #OscarsSoWhite controversy clouded the Oscars, followed by the ongoing #MeToo movement in 2017. These events successfully changed the dynamics of Hollywood power and many then realized that the Oscars, basically, were a reality. purely American product, representing American values that were white and masculine.
Do the Oscars diversify after all these social movements? Yes, at least on the surface.
US. Actress Angela Bbadett and Spanish actor Javier Bardem present an award at the 91st Academy Awards at Dolby Theater in Hollywood, California on February 24, 2019. / VCG Photo
United States. Actress Angela Bbadett and Spanish actor Javier Bardem present an award at the 91st Academy Awards at Dolby Theater in Hollywood, California on February 24, 2019. / VCG Photo
In recent years, numerous films presenting various intrigues were presented. The best image of 2017 Moonlight told the story of an African-American homobadual. In 2018, Lady Bird, on a rebellious teenager, was even led by a woman. Call me by your name won the best screenplay adapted in 2018, based on a novel of gay love. Winner of Best Original Screenplay in 2018, Get Out represented racism in the United States, written and directed by black filmmaker Jordan Peele, while Shape of Water won the best film of 2018
this year. , Academy named Black Panther BlacKkKlansman and . Green Paper for the best film, featuring all the main black characters.
When the critics chanted Shape of Water who won the prize for the best film of 2018, however, I join those who support the decision of the Academy.
The artistic achievements, the special effects and the structure of the film are at the height. . In addition, the underlying theme could be biocentric or ecocentric, valuing all life unlike an anthropocentric vision that haunts Hollywood and makes humans the center of all.
Ideas that defy anthropocentrism were popular long before their appearance in the film. industry, as in the film of Ted Chiang The Great Silence
Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart celebrate behind the scenes with their best production awards for Black Panther in Hollywood, California, February 24, 2019. / VCG Photo [19659016] Hannah Beachler and Jay Hart Celebrate Behind the Scenes with Best Production Awards for Black Panther in Hollywood, California, February 24, 2019. / VCG Photo
The Film Gräns Award Winner Un Certain Regard at The 2018 Cannes Film Festival, which is now nominated for the prize for best make-up and hair at the 91st Oscars, is a film that defies these notions.
By telling the story of two trolls struggling with hardships In the human world, the Iranian-Swedish writer and film director challenges the anthropocentric tendencies of the audience. Abbasi himself is considered an outsider as an immigrant artist to Europe.
Whether it's almost exclusively white men and women for more people of color or non-humans, the Oscars are trying to show more diversity. Rewards break the wall between "me" and "the other" and diminish perspectives and values centered on the "me".
Despite these advances, the overall representation in Hollywood both behind and in front of the camera has been stagnant over the past 10 years.
According to a research conducted by the USC Innenberg Inclusion Initiative, the image of a Hollywood filmmaker is still a white man. Similarly, the report indicates that most of the spoken roles still belong to white actors, in front of Asian and Hispanic / Latino characters.
Asian, Hispanic, and Latino actors, directors, and writers have always lacked representation in Hollywood, and even though they are portrayed, stereotypes such as "nerdy" Asians are still prevalent. Although the Hispanic film Roma topped this year's Oscar nominations and Crazy Rich Asians turned out to be a blockbuster last year These are limited examples illustrating the fact that Hollywood still has a lot of work to do.
The film industry is not as diversified as it could be and we are all waiting for radical changes in representation.
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