New Oscars Inclusion Standards Set a Bar So Low ‘It’s Lying on the Floor’ (Guest Blog)
Last week’s Emmys were a sign of progress, but representation has been slow, uneven and falls far short, writes Jeff Yang
Jeff YangGuest Writer | September 21, 2020 @ 2:40 PM
Photo credit: Getty Images
The Emmy Awards this weekend produced headlines celebrating wins by Black actors — Zendaya, Regina King, The Cephas Jones family — and LGBTQ-identified creators, most notably Dan Levy of Pop TV’s Canadian import “Schitt’s Creek,” which won everything that wasn’t nailed down in the comedy categories. It was a night of “huge wins” and “landmark moments,” if you look at the press, not to mention the Television Academy’s own messaging: “We feel it is a very positive sign that over the past decade the well-deserved recognition of performers of color has increased from 1 in 10 to 1 in 3 nominees across all performer categories.”
It’s important to acknowledge that the shifts in representation in Hollywood award shows represents progress; it’s just as critical to point out that this progress has been slow, uneven and far short of what is necessary or desirable.
“One in three nominees” sounds more impressive than it actually is, considering that the U.S. is poised to be a majority nonwhite nation by 2045 (and the “core demographic” of TV, aged 18 to 49, will be nonwhite even sooner — by 2033). And these nominations didn’t necessarily lead to wins: Yes, a record 11 Black performers took home awards, but only two Asian performers were nominated (first-timer Rain Valdez and Sandra Oh, who’s now eight nods in without a win) — and, most embarrassingly, just a single Latinx performer (Alexis Bledel, nominated in the category of outstanding guest actress in a drama series).
Why is awards show recognition even important? Quite simply, these awards are the most visible means by which the film and TV industry mints new “stars” — performers and creators that Hollywood considers to be worth investing in based on stature alone. And in a time where business models are in flux and the future of media murky, “stars” are the most viable commodity in entertainment, capable of drawing eyeballs to even to projects with minimal production values (like, say, a Zoom table read).
And Hollywood has frequently claimed that it’s impossible to find nonwhite star talent to headline projects, leading it to fall back on casting white actors in race-neutral roles, or even as characters originally written as nonwhite. But if nonwhite actors aren’t cast as leads, the path to becoming a “star” is narrow indeed, and more frequently than not, it goes through awards shows, which offer talented supporting and guest actors a shot at the visibility and critical credibility necessary for this industry to give them a chance.
If we agree that a diverse, inclusive and intersectional Hollywood is a goal worth seeking — and let’s be clear, this goal isn’t just rooted in equity and social justice, but in the sustainability of the industry as a business, given that nonwhite audiences already represent a disproportionate percentage of entertainment revenue dollars — then it’s clear that diversifying award shows is going to be part of the fix. The question is how?
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently decided to take a page from its British counterpart and adopt a set of diversity requirements, which take the form of four different standards, reflecting onscreen representation, offscreen creative leadership, advancement opportunities of underrepresented groups and diversity in audience development.
The announcement unleashed a whirlwind of backlash from the likes of actress Kirstie Alley, who called the requirements “dictatorial” and “anti-artist;” Bill Maher, who in a segment mockingly called “Oscars, No White” in parody of April Reign’s pivotal #OscarsSoWhite Twitter campaign, talked about “virtue signaling” and implied that the new rules were “fascist”; and of course, Fox News host Tucker Carlson, whose predictable rant is not worth wasting pixels on here.
These detractors didn’t seem to have read the actual requirements, which apply only to the Best Picture award, and which offer up loopholes that the collective fleet of the entire “Fast and Furious” franchise could drive through side by side. Only two of the four standards need to be met by Best Picture submissions, which means that the creative personnel standards, onscreen and off, could easily be totally disregarded. The other two standards, for inclusive “advancement opportunities” and “audience development” respectively, could essentially be met by an internship program with a lunch stipend and a handful of mid-to-senior level publicists — who could be people of color, people with disabilities, LGBTQ identified persons or women, or any combination of these.
And as Kyle Buchanan of the New York Times quickly confirmed by tweet, “almost every film would still be nominated under the new guidelines….Standards C and D are so easy to meet — studios simply need a robust internship program and a marketing department that’s relatively diverse — that the films those studios distribute could remain pretty homogeneous and still qualify.”
The bottom line: The bar is so low that it’s lying on the floor. In fact, it’s so low that it should make anyone actually interested in inclusion want to be lying on the floor of a bar. Yet the “we’ve gone too far” brigades are still up in arms about it, and calling it the end of free expression and the death of authentic creativity.
I’m trying not to be cynical. The fact is, the Motion Picture Academy is indeed trying, and its results are paying off in other areas. The active expansion of its membership to include a far more diverse and representative set of performers and creators has made a huge difference and will make even more as time goes on.
But the danger of weak standards that they galvanize the forces of regress, inflaming without transforming. The Academy and other awards organizations need to understand: Creating standards blessing a present reality that still doesn’t properly represent Hollywood’s creative culture, its audience or America (and the world) at large is worse than doing nothing at all.
30 Stars Who Need Only a Tony to EGOT, From Julie Andrews to Kate Winslet (Photos)
The EGOT -- an acronym for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony -- is the greatest honor in entertainment. These stars are (or were) close to achieving it -- if they manage to score a Broadway success.
Julie Andrews (1935 - ) Emmys (2): Variety Musical Series, "The Julie Andrews Hour" (1973); Nonfiction Series, "Broadway: The American Musical" (2005) Grammys (2): Recording For Children, "Mary Poppins" (1965); Spoken Word Album for Children, "Julie Andrews' Collection Of Poems, Songs, And Lullabies" (2010) Oscar: Actress, "Mary Poppins" (1964)
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Cher (1946 - ) Emmy: Variety, Music or Comedy Special, "Cher: The Farewell Tour" (2003) Grammy: Dance Recording, "Believe" (1999) Oscar: Actress, "Moonstruck" (1987)
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Common (1972 - ) Emmy: Original Music and Lyrics, "13th" (2017) Grammys (3): R&B Song, "Love of My Life (An Ode To Hip Hop)" (2002); Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, "Southside" (2007); Song Written For Visual Media, "Glory" (2015) Oscar: Original Song "Selma" (2014)
Kate Winslet (1975 - ) Emmy (2): Actress in a Miniseries or Movie, "Mildred Pierce" (2011) and "Mare of Easttown" (2021) Grammy: Spoken Word Album for Children, "Listen to the Storyteller" (1999) Oscar: Actress, "The Reader" (2008)
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Hildur Guðnadóttir (1982 - ) Emmy: Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special, "Chernobyl" (2019) Grammys (2): Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media, "Chernobyl" (2020); "Joker" (2021) Oscar: Best Original Score, "Joker" (2020)
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Barbra Streisand (1942 - ) Emmys (3): Individual Achievements in Entertainment - Actors and Performers, "My Name Is Barbra" (1965); Variety, Music or Comedy Special and Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, "Barbra: The Concert" (1995) Grammys (8): Vocal Female Performance and Album of the Year, "The Barbra Streisand Album" (1963); Vocal Female Performance, "People" (1964) and "My Name Is Barbra" (1965); Song of the Year and Pop Female Vocal Performance, "Love Theme From A Star Is Born (Evergreen)" (1977); Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal, "Guilty" (1980); Pop Female Vocal Performance, "The Broadway Album" (1986) Oscars (2): Actress, "Funny Girl" (1968); Original Song, "A Star Is Born" (1976)
Grammy: Rap Album, "The Slim Shady LP," Rap Solo Performance, "My Name Is" (2000); Rap Album, "The Marshall Mathers LP," Rap Solo Performance, "The Real Slim Shady," Rap Performance by Duo or Group, "Forgot About Dre" (2001); Rap Album, "The Eminem Show," Short Form Music Video, "Without Me" (2003); Rap Song, Rap Solo Performance, "Lose Yourself" (2004); Rap Album, "Relapse," Rap Performance by Duo or Group, "Crack a Bottle" (2010); Rap Album, "Recovery," Rap Solo Performance, "Not Afraid" (2011); Rap Album, "The Marshall Mathers LP 2," Rap /Sung Collaboration, "The Monster" (2015)
Oscar: Original Song, "Lose Yourself" from "Eight Mile" (2002)
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Adele (1988 - )
Emmy: Outstanding Variety Special, "Adele: One Night Only" (2021)
Grammy: Best New Artist, Female Pop Vocal Performance, "Chasing Pavements" (2009); Album of the Year, Pop Vocal Album, "21," Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Short Form Music Video, "Rolling in the Deep," Pop Solo Performance, "Someone Like You" (2012); Pop Solo Performance, "Set Fire to the Rain" (2013); Song Written for a Visual Meeting, "Skyfall" (2014); Song of the Year, Record of the Year, Pop Solo Performance, "Hell0," Album of the Year, Pop Vocal Album, "25"
Oscar: Best Original Song, "Skyfall" (2012)
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Brian Grazer (1951 - ) Emmys (3): Miniseries, "From the Earth to the Moon" (1998); Comedy Series, "Arrested Development" (2004); Drama Series, "24" (2006) Grammy: Music Film, "The Beatles: Eight Days a Week the Touring Years" (2016) Oscar: Best Picture (producing), "A Beautiful Mind" (2001)
Ron Howard (1954 - ) Emmys (2): Miniseries (producing), "From the Earth to the Moon" (1998); Comedy Series (producing), "Arrested Development" (2004) Grammy: Music Film, "The Beatles: Eight Days a Week the Touring Years" (2016) Oscars (2): Best Picture and Director, "A Beautiful Mind" (2001)
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James Moll (1963 - ) Emmy: Informational Special, "Survivors of the Holocaust" (1996) Grammy: Long Form Music Video, "Foo Fighters: Back And Forth" (2011) Oscar: Documentary Feature (producing), "The Last Days" (1998)
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Michael Giacchino (1967 - ) Emmy: Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore), "Lost" (2005) Grammys (3): Score Soundtrack Album for Visual Media, "Ratatouille" (2007) and "Up" (2009); Instrumental Composition, "Married Life" (2009) Oscar: Original Score, "Up" (2009)
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Randy Newman (1943 - ) Emmys (3): Music and Lyrics, "Cop Rock" (1991); Main Title Theme Music, "Monk" (2004); Original Music and Lyrics, "Monk" (2010) Grammys (6): Instrumental Composition, "The Natural" (1984); Instrumental Composition Written for Visual Media, "A Bug's Life" (1999); Song Written for Visual Media, "When She Loved Me" (From Toy Story 2) (2000); "If I Didn't Have You" (From Monsters, Inc.) (2002); "Our Town" (From Cars) (2006); Score Soundtrack Album for Visual Media, "Toy Story 3" (2010) Oscars (2): Original Song, "Monsters, Inc." (2001); Original Song, "Toy Story 3" (2010)
John Williams (1932 - ) Emmys (3): Musical Composition, "Heidi" (1969); Music Composition for a Special Program, "Jane Eyre" (1972); Original Main Title Theme Music, "Great Performances" (2009) Grammys:23 wins, on 67 nominations Oscars (5): Music, Scoring Adaptation and Original Song Score, "Fiddler on the Roof" (1971); Original Score, "Jaws" (1975) and "Star Wars" (1977) and "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" (1982) and "Schindler's List" (1993)
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Burt Bacharach (1928 - ) Emmy: Single Program - Variety or Musical, "Singer Presents Burt Bacharach" (1971) Grammys (6): Instrumental Arrangement, "Alfie" (1967); Score From an Original Cast Show Album, "Promises, Promises" (1969); Score Written For A Motion Picture or a TV Special, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969); Song of the Year, "That's What Friends Are For" (1986); Pop Collaboration With Vocals, "I Still Have That Other Girl (1998); Pop Instrumental Album, "At This Time" (2005) Oscars (3): Original Song and Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical), "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969); Original Song, "Arthur" (1981)
Trent Reznor (1965- ) Emmy: Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special, "Watchmen" (2019) Grammys (3): Best Metal Performance, "Wish" (1992); Best Metal Performance, "Happiness in Slavery" (1995); Score Soundtrack for Visual Medium, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" (2012) Oscar: Original Score, "The Social Network" (2010)
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Atticus Ross (1968 - ) Emmy: Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special, "Watchmen" (2019) Grammy: Score Soundtrack for Visual Medium, "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" (2012) Oscar: Original Score, "The Social Network" (2010)
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Ludwig Göransson (1984 - )Emmy: Record of the Year and Song of the Year, "This Is America" (2018); Outstanding Music Composition for a Series, "The Mandalorian" (2018) Grammys (3): Score Soundtrack for Visual Medium, "Black Panther" (2019) Oscar: Original Score, "Black Panther" (2018)
Martin Scorsese (1942 - ) Emmys (3): Directing for a Drama Series, "Boardwalk Empire" (2011); Nonfiction Special (producing) and Directing of a Nonfiction Special, "George Harrison: Living in the Material World" (2012) Grammy: Long Form Music Video, "No Direction Home" (2005) Oscar: Director, "The Departed" (2006)
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George Burns (1896 - 1996) Emmy: Performance in Informational Programming, "A Conversation With..." (1990) Grammy: Spoken Word or Non-Musical Recording, "Gracie - A Love Story" (1990) Oscar: Supporting Actor, "The Sunshine Boys" (1975)
Photo: Allan Warren
John Addison (1920-1998) Emmy: Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore), "Murder, She Wrote" (1985) Grammy: Original Score From A Motion Picture Or Television Show, "Tom Jones" (1963) Oscar: Music, Score - Substantially Original, "Tom Jones" (1963)
Marilyn Bergman (1929 - ) and Alan Bergman (1925 - ) Emmys (3): Music Composition for a Special (Dramatic Underscore), "Sybil" (1977); Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics, "Barbra: The Concert" (1995); Music and Lyrics, "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies: America's Greatest Movies" (1999) Grammys (2): Song of the Year, Album of Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or a Television Special, "The Way We Were" (1974) Oscars (3): Original Song, "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1968); Original Song, "The Way We Were" (1973); Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score, "Yentl" (1983)
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Sid Ramin (1919 - ) Daytime Emmy: Design Excellence for a Daytime Drama Series, "All My Children" (1983) Grammy: Sound Track Album From Motion Picture or Television, "West Side Story" (1961) Oscar: Scoring of a Musical Picture, "West Side Story" (1961)
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Caitrin Rogers (1983 - ) Emmy: Outstanding Informational Programming - Long Form, "The Tillman Story" (2012) Grammy: Best Music Film, "Twenty Feet From Stardom" (2015) Oscar: Best Documentary Feature, "Twenty Feet From Stardom" (2014)
Peter Ustinov (1921-2004) Emmys (3): Single Performance - Lead or Support, "Omnibus" (1958); Single Performance by Lead Actor in a Drama, "Barefoot in Athens" (1967); Single Performance by Lead Actor, "A Storm in Summer" (1970) Grammy: Recording For Children, "Peter and the Wolf" (1959) Oscars (2): Supporting Actor, "Spartacus" (1960) and "Topkapi" (1964)
Photo: Allan Warren
Robin Williams (1951-2014) Emmys (2): Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, "Carol, Carl, Whoopi and Robin" (1987); Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, "ABC Presents: A Royal Gala" (1988) Grammys (5): Comedy Recording, "Reality...What A Concept" (1979); "A Night at the Met" (1987); Comedy Recording, "Good Morning, Vietnam" (1988); Recording for Children, "Pecos Bill" (1988); Spoken Comedy Album, "Robin Williams - Live 2002" Oscar: Supporting Actor, "Good Will Hunting" (1997)
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Morgan Neville (1967 - ) Emmy: Historical Documentary, "Best of Enemies" (2016) Grammy: Best Music Film, "Twenty Feet From Stardom" (2015) Oscar: Documentary Feature, "Twenty Feet From Stardom" (2015)
Jon Blair (1950 - ) Emmy: Outstanding Historical Programming - Long Form, "Reporters at War" (2005) Grammy: Best Concept Music Video, "Land of Confusion" (1987) Oscar: Documentary Feature, "Anne Frank Remembered" (1995)
Alex Gibson Emmy: Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special, "John Adams" (2008) Grammy: Best Score Soundtrack Album, "The Dark Knight" (2008) Oscar: Sound Editing, "Dunkirk" (2017)
So who has made the cut? Here are all of the stars who have achieved EGOT status, from Audrey Hepburn to Whoopi Goldberg.
A select group of entertainers can round out their trophy cases with a competitive win from the Broadway League
The EGOT -- an acronym for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony -- is the greatest honor in entertainment. These stars are (or were) close to achieving it -- if they manage to score a Broadway success.
Jeff Yang is a journalist and cultural critic and the cohost of the podcast THEY CALL US BRUCE. His next book, "RISE: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now," co-authored with Phil Yu and Philip Wang, will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in Fall 2021.