The Academy released their nominations for the 2019 Oscars around a week ago, and as always there was quite a bit of controversy revolving around that list. The film that caused the most discussion, however, is the 2018 blockbuster Black Panther.
There are a lot of people who are angry that Black Panther got a Best Picture nomination instead of Avengers: Infinity War, and a lot of other people arguing that it did not deserve the nomination at all. The people saying the Avenges movie deserved the nomination have a pretty simple argument, they believe it is better, but the arguments of the people who believe Black Panther does not deserve a nomination at all get a bit more interesting.
Their argument is largely based on the fact that they believe Black Panther only got nominated to pander the critics of The Academy who scorn the lack of racial, and overall diversity throughout The Academy. And there is some truth to that claim, at least the part about there being a lack of diversity. In 2016 it was revealed that the members of The Academy were 92% white, and 75% male. The lack of diversity sparked a movement, in the form of the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag, to increase the number of people of color within The Academy, and this movement did make some ripples.
In June of 2018, over 900 invitations were sent out to various people in the film industry to join The Academy, among the the new members, 49% are women, and 38% are people of color. This still makes very little impact to the overall numbers, but it is clear that changes have been made, and hopefully more will come.
However, The Academy’s mission to increase diversity did not stop at its members, The Academy is also trying to increase the number of people of color who are nominated for the award. This is where the controversy of Black Panther begins. Many people are saying the representation is good, but they believe Black Panther is undeserving of an Oscar, and is being nominated because of the primarily black cast. While this might be true, the fact of the matter is that the burden of proof would fall upon the people making these accusations, and there simply is not enough of it. Yes, The Academy does have quiet a bit to gain with regards to publicity for nominating Black Panther. However, every accusation can be dismissed by The Academy as long as they say they felt it was a genuinely good movie that deserved the nomination.
My Thoughts:
So what are my thoughts on the matter? Well, I don’t think it matters whether The Academy nominated Black Panther because of its cast or because of its excellency. If the former, that speaks volumes about The Academy and is a poor representation of what The Academy should be. However, Black Panther did make waves within the film industry, and overall caused quite a bit of change in views. At its very base, Black Panther is an empowering film, and even though it may not be as deep as some of the other nominees, or maybe not as unique, it is just as powerful. Perhaps even more powerful because its popularity; it was able to make more of an impact. So even if Black Panther does not deserve to be nominated because of some of its qualities, it deserves the nomination because of the changes that it has created, and will continue to create. If The Academy did nominate Black Panther to look better in the public eye, they did do something wrong, but even if that’s the case they still did the right thing, even if it was for the wrong reason.