After years of public outrage, hashtags and keyboard- based warfare, on September 9th 2020 The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science took a baby step in the direction of a more equal future of cinema.
In order to win the best picture category , A film has to meet two of four standards:
The on-screen representation standard :
“a film must either have at least one lead character or a significant supporting character be from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group, at least 30 percent of secondary roles must be from two underrepresented groups or the main storyline and theme or narrative must be focused on an underrepresented group”
The creative Leadership and project team standard :
“In order to meet the standard, a movie must have either at least two leadership positions or department heads be from an underrepresented group and at least one be from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group; at least six other crew be from an underrepresented racial or ethnic group; or at least 30 percent of the film’s crew be from an underrepresented group”
The Industry access and opportunities standard :
“requires distribution and financing companies to provide paid internships or training opportunities to members of these groups”
Audience Development standard :
“requires a film’s team to hire multiple people from these groups at the executive level in marketing, publicity, or distribution.”
The new requirements won’t come into effect until 2024, so rest assured, Bigoted filmmakers and sexist screenwriters alike, your current non-inclusive projects wont be jeprodized. There's still time to master the art of concealing your prejudices.
So why are people seeing this as an infringement on their rights?
Criticisms of the notion come from not only white male twitter trolls but powerful hollywood names from the groups that the Inclusion policies are intended to benefit such as Viola Davis, Kirsty Alley. Kirsty Alley writes on twitter
I’ve been in the motion picture Academy for 40 years. The Academy celebrates freedom of UNBRIDLED artistry expressed through movies. The new RULES to qualify for “best picture” are dictatorial .. anti-artist..Hollywood you’re swinging so far left you’re bumping into your own ass
— Kirstie Alley (@kirstiealley) September 9, 2020
Kirstie Alley (*cough* Trump supporter *cough*) is seen here implying that the artistic freedom to under-represent minorities in any area of film production is something that should be protected. But the artistic content of the film remains uncompromised! In theory a film could be made up of an entirely white male cast or consist of completely problematic subject matter and still be considered. Green Book would still have won had the policies been in place last year! Virtually nothing is changing apart from a few more opportunities may be given to underrepresented groups which is a long long overdue positive thing!
Viola Davis is a powerhouse black female actor, The first black female actress to achieve the triple crown of acting (Oscar, Emmy, Tony). She is a huge advocate for increased representation of Black Actors and has done a lot of incredible work. In a video that gained a lot of traction on Twitter, she claimed that she doesn’t “want to be a part of an inclusion rider”.
Which is a very valid point. Opportunities should be talent based. However the system we have in place currently is supposedly a talent based one, and Davis is one of the only women of colour who has managed to make it to the oscars. Eight black women have won best actress in a supporting role EVER (and some of the films they won for have since been criticized for being deeply problematic, such as Gone With the Wind 1938 and The Help 2011). And only one has won best actress, Halle Berry in 2001 for Monsters Ball. Bearing this in mind, Davis’s statements come from an undeniable place of luck. She's extremely talented but being one of the very few Women of colour who managed to make it, criticizing the “Inclusion Rider” which would function to award more equally deserving BIPOC women the same opportunities? Seems very out of touch. Davis has the privilege of making it to where she is without an inclusion rider, but the vast majority do not.
Just as throughout the development of cinema, a white straight male able-body dominated industry originated as rule and developed into the norm. These inclusion policies will hopefully originate as a rule and slowly develop into the norm. And think of the new perspectives and stories that could come with it!