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Today In Obvious

The Vast Majority of Academy Voters Are Extremely Old & Incredibly White Men

by Jamie Frevele | 4:40 pm, February 20th, 2012


A new study by the LA Times revealed a fact that is usually just a joke made by comedians and angry fans of Drive: the majority of the voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is made up of white, elderly men, and this is why generally lackluster “Oscar-bait” movies like War Horse and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close end up nominated over more edgy fare (like Drive). The Academy says it wants to diversify, and it’s nice of them to notice the need to do that now that everyone expects the Oscars to be 100 percent boring 100 percent of the time.

Top pic also taken from the LA Times story, because it looks like the creepy picture from The Shining, and I dig that.

There are 5,765 members of the Academy who cast votes every year, though that number is always subject to change since we just found out how old some of them are. While some members do openly discuss who they’re voting for, some guard their identities like masked superheroes, not wanting to reveal their highly important status in the entertainment community. (One of my favorite features around any awards time is when Entertainment Weekly asks anonymous members of the academy — identifying them by their profession — whom they’re voting for and why.) But now, while keeping the identities of the members secret, the Academy has revealed some demographics that are very, very interesting, indeed:

Oscar voters are nearly 94% Caucasian and 77% male, The Times found. Blacks are about 2% of the academy, and Latinos are less than 2%.

Oscar voters have a median age of 62, the study showed. People younger than 50 constitute just 14% of the membership.

Well, then. That’s why the list of nominees often reflects what our grandparents like and not necessarily the majority of people who actually go to movies. (Or are they?) But this certainly explains the issue of “perennial favorites” and an occasional lack of an open mind when it comes to nominating well-received movies that might be out of the comfort zone of someone a little more “old-fashioned.” One of the most controversial nominees for Best Picture (among other awards) this year is the 9/11 tearjerker drama Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It has almost everything an Oscar prescription package needs: sad things, 9/11, sad children, previous Oscar-winner Sandra Bullock experiencing a tragedy, previous Oscar-winner Tom Hanks experiencing a tragedy, and a quirky old person (Best Supporting Actor nominee Max Von Sydow). But as it turns out, it wasn’t that good of a movie. Yet it was still nominated.

Meanwhile, one of the best reviewed films of the year was Drive. It got exactly zero nominations, and the all-around snub got a lot of people talking about how the Academy has gotten so far out of touch with not just the audience now, but also with critics. See also: Shame, and Michael Fassbender‘s role in it, because it is all about people having sexual intercourse, and coming from people who are still judging things using the Hay’s Code, this is just unbecoming, I suppose.

But now, we have a pretty good idea why the Academy ignores movies like Drive, which feature young people, appeal to young(er) people, and maybe move a little too fast and loud for all those old guys. While they are not the majority, there are also still opinions like this running around the Academy:

“I don’t see any reason why the academy should represent the entire American population. That’s what the People’s Choice Awards are for,” said [Frank] Pierson [a former academy president and Oscar-winner in 1976 for Dog Day Afternoon], who still serves on the board of governors. “We represent the professional filmmakers, and if that doesn’t reflect the general population, so be it.”

Like I said, this does not reflect the many quotes by several other members who absolutely recognize the need for change. But if this is the attitude they have to “wait out” (read: wait for those guys to die, since membership is for life), then that is looking like an uphill battle.

(via LA Times)

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  • Anonymous

    A majority of “Old white men”?  My goodness what is America coming to; too many old white men?  Pat Buchanan writes about his concern that white America is diminishing and he’s excoriated for it, called a bigot, and fired.  This article is critical about there being too many white men, “old white men.” For saying there are too few white people, one person is fired; for saying there are too many white people, is this deserving of praise?Attorney General Holder, the guy who refused to prosecute the Black Panthers because of their race, suggested that people are too cowardly to discuss race.   Mr. Holder, Pat Buchanan was fired because he discussed race; think maybe his firing will create more cowards.  Come to think of it, Jimmy The Greek, Al Campanis, Marge Schott, Michael Richards, and a number of other people were all punished for making comments about race that were perceived as racist against blacks. 

    Liberals in this country need to make up their minds about whether or not they want us to be race neutral, or race sensitive; they can’t have it both ways.  Oh…wait a second, they CAN and DO have it both ways.

  • Frodo Baggins

    Pat Buchanan was claiming the US will fall apart when white people are no longer an ethnic majority.

    All the Mary Sue article is saying is that the ethnic/gender/age makeup of the Academy is extremely different from that of the country, in favor of a notoriously conservative demographic.

    Do you get the difference? One is saying “Non-white people are ruining the country,” and the other is saying “This culturally influential group ought to be more diverse and balanced.”

  • Anonymous

    I agree with Frank Pierson. I think the academy should reflect professional filmmakers. It is an award given by the filmmaking community to its peers and the fact that the Oscar voters are mostly old white men is non-story.

    I do believe that the fact that the filmmaking community is mostly old, white men is a crime beyond measure and the fact that Hollywood is such an inhospitable place for minorities and women is just grotesque.

  • Frodo Baggins

    Don’t you think diversifying the group that judges and supports films might go some way toward promoting diversity within the filmmaking community? 

  • Anonymous

    this reminds of Oscar formula parody 
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAG9Xn5bJwQ

  • Anonymous

    After all the dumb decisions they’ve made over the years, and particularly after statistics like this that remind you how unrepresentative they are, I just don’t know why *anyone* takes the Academy and their Awards seriously any more.

  • Anonymous

    I don’t. I really can’t imagine a studio head deciding to hire a minority cinematographer or director because there are a certain percentage more minority or female voters in the academy.

  • https://twitter.com/ZenPoseur ZenPoseur

    What’s up with the poor quality trolling lately?

    This shit reads like it was generated by a macro.

  • Frodo Baggins

    I think, sadly, it’s genuine.

  • Frodo Baggins

    I meant on the part of the talent. If non-white-straight-men saw more non-white-straight-men being recognized for their artistic endeavors, they might feel more confident about pursuing a role in that industry. Not that I’m saying outright “The Academy should give more awards to women so more women will make films.” Such social engineering is dishonest and misguided. But it’s undeniable that the Oscars play a role in establishing the prestige and notoriety of some films over others, and the fact that most of that prestige goes toward a relatively limited demographic contributes to the inhospitable Hollywood atmosphere you mentioned. As has been demonstrated in many studies of classroom performance, how an individual perceives others’ expectations of them frequently has a demonstrable effect on their success.

  • Frodo Baggins

    Catch phrase!

  • https://twitter.com/ZenPoseur ZenPoseur

    Then I think we should all chip in and send them to trolling school.

    Come on, everybody, this site deserves trolls that we can be proud of.

  • Anonymous

    Agreed! With information out like this, is it any wonder why ticket sales for film has been down for like the 10th year straight.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_R7GVNIKWG3S2UTHEQOMSZXT4M4 Anna B

    Meh, they can probably download some kind of free How-To on YouTube or something.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_R7GVNIKWG3S2UTHEQOMSZXT4M4 Anna B

    “Final lines of an inspiring speech that douche bags will quote on their FACEBOOK PROFILES!”

    LOL, so THIS.

  • Anonymous

    When left without a host, and hopeful the Muppets could fill the role, I thought I might actually  watch the Oscars.  Then upon hearing Billy Crystal would be hosting again (I love him, but I never watched any of the other times he hosted either), I planned to go back to ignoring them.  Now, with Frank Pierson’s statement is seems like why should anyone care about the Oscars at all?  It sounds like they are just Hollywood telling themselves how great they are.

  • Anonymous

    Are awards even relevant anymore? Why do we even care? What does it matter what a self selected group of people who believe themselves to be the end all be all of taste think about a movie? There is so much glad handing in the award world it’s pathetic. These awards are just an excuse for a bunch of rich people to pat each other on the back and tell themselves how awesome they are.

    I really doubt that even if the voters were changed to better reflect the demographics of the country that the movies selected would be very different. It’s not so much about black, white, hispanic or otherwise, it’s about rich and old. To be in the Academy you have to have power and influence in the industry. To have power and influence in the industry, chances are it took some time to attain it, therefore you’re older. With that power comes money, so also rich. Rich, older people don’t have the same interests as 20 and 30 something middle classers and they never will. Generations have different values and expectations so one day it will be us 20 and 30 somethings, who are presently complaining, in the Academy while our grandchildren’s generation talks about how out of touch we are. And you know what? By that time, I bet the demographics *will* be different. Because, just as the make up of the academy reflects the make up of power in society today, as time goes on, the values of society evolve, we become more and more accepting of minorities in positions of power, the make up of the Academy will change to reflect that.

    But honestly, if you think these guys are so out of touch why do you care who they give or don’t give awards to? After all, “Opinions are like assholes: we all have them and they all stink.”

  • http://twitter.com/FrankenFran Franken Fran

    *sigh* This is why I usually only watch the Oscars for the fashion anymore…

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