Soon after the nominations for the 87th Academy Awards were announced on Thursday morning, a torrent of hostile messages began filling social media websites with the concept that the movie about Martin Luther King, Jr., was overlooked in many categories because “the average Oscar voter is a 63-year-old white man.”
Some tweeters even went so far as to claim the few accolades the movie received from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences were “pity nominations” for Best Picture and Best Original Song, which was entitled “Glory.”
Many posters charged that Ava DuVernay should have gotten a nod for Best Director, Paul Webb for Best Screenplay and Bradford Young for “outstanding cinematography.”
Two of the first people to enter the fray were @wexler, who grumbled: “It was a big year for white actors in Hollywood;” and @MarcDSchiller, who said: "The lack of diversity in the Academy Award nominations is incredibly depressing.”
Forbes film critic Scott Mendelson expressed his outrage by stating:
I am angry because if the legacy of DuVernay’s “Selma” becomes shaped by its Oscar-season controversy, I fear that it will affect the artistic opportunities afforded to its African-American female director in a manner different than if "Selma" would have come under fire under the directorial lens of a white male filmmaker.
Racism was the target of many other posters. “Not a single non-white actor was nominated for an Academy Award this year,” noted @jbouie, while @Variety_Claudia called 2014 “a horrible year for diversity for the Academy: all white actors/actresses; no female writers or directors in Oscar race. Shameful.”
Some people, including @BillWeirCNN, stated it's “worth remembering that Oscar voters are 93 percent white” and “76 percent male.”
“The Oscars' theme this year seems to be 'white power,'” @jamiekilstein grumbled, while @TheDirectorList agreed by stating: “Once again, 'important' white male stories rule. The Academy is clueless about what boldness it takes to tell a non-white male focused story.”
@entertainml pointed to a story on the Huffington Post website entitled “This Will Be the Whitest Oscars Since 1998” in which reporter Lauren Duca stated:
Benedict Cumberbatch, Eddie Redmayne and other white people kindly welcome you to the whitest Oscars since 1998. Yes, unfortunately, you read that right: 2015 will be the worst year for diversity in Hollywood since the 70th annual ceremony.
This is especially troubling when you consider that last year's Oscars was a banner year, with a Best Supporting Actress award for Lupita Nyong'o and Steve McQueen taking home the Best Picture title as producer for "12 Years a Slave."
Those facts led @TheSonicScrew to suggest: “Apparently the Academy were all 'look, we did the slavery thing last year, let us celebrate WHITE PEOPLE FOR ONCE JEEZ.'”
@Pundit_AcadEMIC was even angrier when he posted that “everybody got their hopes up for 'Selma' getting an Oscar. Sometimes, y'all act like you don't know how white supremacy works.”
Meanwhile, some had suggested that "Selma" would be snubbed due to its “historical inaccuracies,” a charge many people found laughable, given the Academy's history of nominating such films as “Gone With the Wind,” “Gladiator,” “Titanic,” “Spartacus” and even “Lawrence of Arabia.”
@IMZ_Politics pointed out that “'Selma' was nominated for Best Picture. How is that being snubbed?” That led @scottkier to wonder: “Or … maybe it’s just a really good movie without a lot of elite individual components -- like the San Antonio Spurs of movies?”
The staff at Twitchy.com then asked how the people at Vox.com define “snubbed” before quoting the folks at the website as saying:
As recently as a few weeks ago, the film was being touted as the one that might take down presumptive frontrunner “Boyhood” and certainly one that would score nominations for lead actor David Oyelowo and director Ava DuVernay.
Now, it’s the least-nominated film in the Best Picture category.
However, @voxdotcom continued by pointing to “the same demo that heaped noms on '12 Years a Slave' just one year ago? Perhaps the movie is just not that good.”
But Vox wouldn’t just come out and call these liberals racists. Instead, they had a different terminology for that concept: “The Academy is diversifying, and that has led to bolder choices in recent years. But it’s a slow process, and that’s reflected in the artistic conservatism of this year’s nominees.”
Comedian Patton Oswalt attempted to take the middle ground by posting: "'Selma?' One of the best pics of the year. But the directing, script, all the acting, and cinematography? Meh. Nice song, though."
We'll find out what the “old white men” in the Academy think is everything from the Best Picture to the Best Screenplay when the Oscar statues are handed out during ABC's coverage of the big event on Sunday evening, February 22.
