Academy Awards Diversity Checklist

I have a piece up at Bitch Flicks about the diversity (and lack thereof) in the Academy Award nominations this year. To sum up: the selection is not that diverse, but in some cases, more diverse than in previous years.

Here is an excerpt:

“Number of Best Picture-Nominated Films With a Person of Color as a Protagonist, Played by a POC Actor: 3/9

Commentary: Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, and Life of Pi have all been nominated for Best Picture, and their films all have POC actors/protagonists (Quvenzhane Wallis, Jamie Foxx, and Suraj Sharma, respectively). Argo technically has a POC protagonist, but the role played by a white actor (Ben Affleck). I don’t know whether Affleck cast himself out of vanity, an understandable desire to perform and direct at the same time, fear that the racist film industry wouldn’t stand behind and promote a film without a famous white actor in the lead role, or all of the above.”

Would you like to read the rest? Of course you do! Here is the link: 2013 Academy Awards Diversity Checklist.