In recent years, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been actively trying to diversify its ranks, at least in part in hopes of avoiding another #OscarsSoWhite controversy, meaning that each new group of members has lately involved something unexpectedly cool and Okay. deserve spikes. In theory, that means the Oscars themselves will gradually embrace unexpectedly cooler and well-deserved winners, meaning that Hollywood will move towards funding cooler and more diverse projects, as those now win Oscars, and then the coolest filmmakers. and various will get opportunities that have traditionally been reserved for bored white men.
That brings us to this year’s new members, of which there are 819, bringing the total number quite close to the staggering 10,000 (which is So many) The academy has released a handy graphic Showing just how diverse the new class is, and while it’s clearly an improvement on how things used to be, it’s worth noting that it could still be much better. For example, 45 percent of new members are women and 36 percent are from “underrepresented ethnic / racial communities”, but only 33 percent of all members are women and only 19 percent are from underrepresented communities . The Academy is proud to note that those numbers have doubled and tripled (respectively) since 2015, but if it doubles the number of women and it’s still only 33 percent … that’s not super cool.
But hey, progress is progress, and as noted above, there are some great names in this class (that comes through The Playlist) In the actor category, highlights include Awkwafina, Zazie Beetz, Zendaya Coleman, Mackenzie Davis, Ana de Armas, Cynthia Erivo, Beanie Feldstein, Brian Tyree Henry, most of the cast of Parasite, Niecy Nash, Lakeith Stanfield, Constance Wu, Florence Pugh and Olivia Wilde. Also, although they are white men, Ben Mendelsohn and (for some reason) Tim McGraw. For directors, newcomers include Ari Aster, Robert Eggers, and Alma Har’el. You can see the full list, which also includes producers, casting directors and others who make movies but don’t appear on the poster, in the Play list link above.
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