Sinlung /
20 February 2012

Oscar Voters 94% White

http://img2-cdn.newser.com/image/868595-6-20120219142859.jpegBlacks, Latinos, women are minorities in the academy
Who votes for Oscars?

The list is kept secret, but an LA Times investigation shows 94% of them are white and 77% are male. Blacks and Latinos each make up only 2%. "We need to do a better job" of diversifying, says a governor at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

But he insists the problem starts in the film business itself: "If the industry as a whole is not doing a great job in opening up its ranks, it's very hard for us to diversify our membership."

Another shocker: the academy's median age is 62, and only 14% of 5,765 voting members are younger than 50.

Critics say that explains why The Social Network didn't win last year (too Internet-ey), why Shame is ignored this year (too sexy), and why Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is up for a Best Picture (its middle-aged theme: fathers and sons).

But academy President Tom Sherak seems to blame the excluded for not joining: "If you are sitting waiting for us to find your name in our make-believe book and we are going to call you, we are not going to do that," he says. "Come to us, we'll get you in."

0 comments:

Post a Comment