The end of the year
2015 was very special for saga lovers. The last part of The Hunger Games – Mockinjay
Part II – was released last December but perhaps the film release that
caught most people´s attention was the last episode of the Star Wars saga: The Force
Awakens. After so much excitement, the beginning of the new year was
expected to be a quiet one but out of the blue, a controversy has sparked due
to the lack of Oscar nominations for black actors. Some well-known actors such as
Will Smith or Jada Pinkett Smith – his wife – have even said that they won´t be
attending the Oscars ceremony in protest against the Academy´s decision to
nominate only white actors for the second year in a row. Last year the film Selma was nominated for best picture and
best song, nomination that the film won but even then there was some protest
against the lack of nominees in the acting and directing categories which was
reflected in the
Twitter-sphere by the hashtag “OscarSoWhite”. This year, as there are more films
starring black actors such as Beasts of
No Nation (Idris Elba), Concussion
(Will Smith), Creed (Michael B.
Jordan) or Compton (with a cast of
many young actors) the expectations must have been higher, however the list of
nominees didn´t include any of those names. The idea that the Academy Awards
ceremony should reflect the diversity which is characteristic of the United
States lies at the heart of this heated debate. The whole controversy has been
considered from many standpoints and one of the issues which has been called
into question has been the type of membership of the Academy – whose votes are
decisive – and the voting process itself. Anyway, this is a sensitive topic, as is often the case with minorities, because overcoming prejudice is a
difficult matter but feeling free to give your opinion without risking being
misinterpreted is equally difficult, which has contributed to stirring the
controversy even more. 
The Academy Awards nominations
were announced on 14th January.
What do you think about this
controversy? What´s the point of boycotting the Academy Awards ceremony? Will
the absence of a few actors make any difference or will the ceremony attract as
much attention as usual?
