Hollywood says it is okay to be racist, sexist, and anti-LGBTQIA+ half the time

“Oscars Announce New Inclusion Requirements for Best Picture Eligibility” (Variety):

For the 94th and 95th Oscars ceremonies, scheduled for 2022 and 2023, a film will submit a confidential Academy Inclusion Standards form to be considered for best picture. Beginning in 2024, for the 96th Oscars, a film submitting for best picture will need to meet the inclusion thresholds by meeting two of the four standards.

If these standards are important, why does a film need to meet only half of them? Would we say that a person was a virtuous anti-racist if he/she/ze/they went to only half of the local KKK gatherings?

What are America’s victim groups, according to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences?

•Women
•Racial or ethnic group:
•Asian
•Hispanic/Latinx
•Black/African American
•Indigenous/Native American/Alaskan Native
•Middle Eastern/North African
•Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander
•Other underrepresented race or ethnicity
•LGBTQ+
•People with cognitive or physical disabilities, or who are deaf or hard of hearing

(Only “LGBTQ+” and not “LGBQTIA+”?)

Also… when is victimhood measured? At the time that the victim is hired? At the time that the victim first works on the film? At the time that the victim completes work on the film? At the time of the Academy Awards? We wouldn’t deny, I hope, that gender ID is fluid and changeable. Hollywood itself loves to give us examples of people who change their LGBTQIA+ status from negative (cisgender heterosexual) to positive (e.g., homosexual). Racial identification is fluid. Most recently in the news, Jessica Krug, whose brilliant Ph.D. colleagues accepted her as a Black woman (NY Post):

Finally, what actually qualifies under the LGBTQIA+ banner? The actor tells the producer that he/she/ze/they had sex in an LGBTQIA+ manner? How does that move the needle with the general public unless the actor has sex in an LGBTQIA+ manner on screen? Rock Hudson, for example, allegedly identified as LGBTQIA+, but his on-screen characters were cisgender heterosexuals. Why did that advance the LGBTQIA+ movement compared to simply hiring a cisgender heterosexual actor?

(Even a movie with an all-Asian (a victim category for Hollywood) cast and a female lead is objectionable currently: “Disney Wanted to Make a Splash in China With ‘Mulan.’ It Stumbled Instead.” (NYT, complaining that Disney did some filming in a Muslim area of China (wouldn’t the revenue actually be good for Chinese Muslims?)))

Related (going through old posts to see if any of them involve movies that would qualify):

3 thoughts on “Hollywood says it is okay to be racist, sexist, and anti-LGBTQIA+ half the time

  1. You forgot one of the true classics from 2008, filmed here in Massachusetts at the Burlington Mall: Paul Blart: Mall Cop. At first glance this movie wouldn’t seem to meet the Academy’s standards, but if you give it the benefit of the doubt, it absolutely can clear the bar:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Blart:_Mall_Cop

    This was an Adam Sandler production. As Wikipedia notes, it “…was not well-received by critics but grossed $183.3 million worldwide against a production budget of $26 million” and it could have met two of the criteria because:

    “Paul Blart lives in West Orange, New Jersey, with his teenage daughter, Maya, and mother, Margaret. Aspiring to join the New Jersey State Police, he trains at the police academy, but his hypoglycemic medical condition causes him to collapse, therefore failing the exam.”

    So he overcomes a potentially fatal physical disability. It could also be argued that he had cognitive disabilities, or at least, was incredibly stupid:

    “Things initially go well, but Blart is sidetracked when he decides to participate in a nacho-eating contest with his friend Leon. The jalapeño peppers are more than Blart can handle, causing him to inadvertently drink several alcoholic beverages. He ruins the party and makes a wild exit by falling through a window.”

    To get to two out of four, we have the fact that one of the background songs was Barry Manilow’s “Weekend in New England.” In 2017, Manilow came out as gay (which NOBODY had guessed!) and revealed that he was married to his manager, whom he had been involved with for more than 40 years. This is a story of triumph and tolerance because the announcement had absolutely zero discernible impact on Manilow’s career.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2ku_b0srog

    So if there’s hope for movies like Paul Blart: Mall Cop, with a few adjustments to the cast and storyline, anything can meet the Academy’s new rules.

    • Oh, I forgot: the airport scenes in the movie were filmed at Hanscom Field! Did any of the ECAC’s personnel make it into the film as extras?

  2. Does anyone over the age of say 25 or with a triple digit IQ really go to Hollywood movies anymore? I mean how many times can you watch a black/female/gay superhero chase/shoot/maim/impale a fascist/corrupt businessman/corrupt government official? While we are still free to chose, why would anyone freely agree to support the propaganda industry, be it Hollywood, NFL football or NBA basketball?

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