Ethnic observations on the Critics Choice noms
One of Gold Derby's longtime posters, Wayman Wong, offers us this observation: "If the Broadcast Film Critics Association nominations are any indication of the Academy Award nominees, we could see one of the whitest Oscar races in recent memory. Of the 22 BFCA nominees in the main acting categories, there are no blacks, no Asians and only one Latino (Javier Bardem).
"By comparison, last year’s 23 BFCA acting nominees included 5 blacks, 2 Latinos, 1 Asian and even 1 Native American (Adam Beach). The Oscars went on to nominate the very same 5 blacks, 2 Latinos and 1 Asian. That’s 8 out of 20 acting Oscar nominees, which constitutes a record-high 40%.
"For the record, they were: Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Hudson, Eddie Murphy, Will Smith, Forest Whitake; Penelope Cruz, Adriana Barraza; Rinko Kikuchi.
"This year, some Oscar pundits have singled out Denzel Washington and Ruby Dee as Oscar contenders, but they’ve yet to make the radar of any of the critics’ groups."
This post would have made more sense if the advocate (Mr. Wong) understood better what being ethnic is in this country. Frankly, his complaint falls flat considering that the best of the crop is being recognized by the various awards, and that Denzel Washington is generally among them.
Posted by: SWF | December 17, 2007 at 09:05 AM
Javier Bardem is not "Latino" as in a separate ethnic category. He is white European. He is Latin like French, Italian, Portuguese and Romanians are Latin. Stop lumping Spaniards with Latinos.
Posted by: Lloyd | December 13, 2007 at 09:38 AM
Javier Bardem is from Spain so I don't think he's technically a Latino. I think Hispanic would be a more correct term.
Posted by: pepe | December 13, 2007 at 08:37 AM
I don't see it as evidence of anything except that the 5 most critically-lauded performances in each category this year happen to be by whites.
Last year, that was certainly not the case.
I would hope that Oscar measures performances based on merit - well, ok, that's a loaded statement - and without regard to race, regardless of what that means for the resulting ethnic make-up of the nominees,
There have been years when British actors dominated the major categories and years when there were no Brits. I realize there is no traditional bias against British actors either in getting decent roles or in prejudicial thinking (unless it is that the prejudice is that they are better than they really are) , but I believe we have made enough progress, finally, to see this as nothing more than a timing issue.
If the trend continues for several years, we have a problem.
I'm also not so sure Penelope Cruz, being Spanish, qualifies as an ethnic minority any more than Marion Cotillard would for being French.
Posted by: Christopher | December 12, 2007 at 10:20 PM
Javier Bardem is from Spain, Europe. That is not known as "Latino." Penelope Cruz is also from Spain. This kind of confusion also used to happen with some Italian actors and actresses in the Golden Era. Southern Europe is Europe too! Where does the white race come from? The answer is...Europe.
Posted by: Pablo Serrano Herrero | December 12, 2007 at 07:51 PM
In no way is there an issue to be had with critics or award groups. It is an issue to be had with Hollywood as a whole.
The only two solutions you offer are for American Gangster. And it's dead.
Posted by: Michael | December 12, 2007 at 07:01 PM