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I want to take this moment to highlight that the word and the movement toward diversity isn’t just a Black and white issue. To that end, looking at the 2024 Oscar nominations, there have been some interesting twists and additions.
Overall, there seems to be a marked improvement in representation, with women, Afro American actors and actresses, and LGBTQ+ creatives included. In the four acting categories, seven out of 20 nominees are BIPOC, the same number as last year. However, there were no people of color in the directing nominations, and an African American woman has never been nominated in that category.
Some might argue that African Americans have slipped back greatly with the shutout of the musical version of the classic film “The Color Purple” and “Origin.”
In terms of Latino representation, which has traditionally been dismal across the board, this year brings Afro Latino Colman Domingo (Best Actor nominee for “Rustin”), whose father is from Belize and Guatemala, and Honduran American “Barbie” actress America Ferrera. Together, they bring much-needed representation.
Ferrera remains the only Latina ever nominated for a comedic Emmy; if she wins the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, she would be the third Latina to do so, behind Rita Moreno and Ariana DeBose, both winning for their roles in two different “West Side Story” films.
Jeffrey Wright and Sterling K. Brown were nominated for lead and supporting actor, respectively, for the best picture nominee “American Fiction,” which skewers pop cultural depictions of Black life. They join Domingo in the lead actor race this year.
Under Indigenous (Native American) representation, actress Lily Gladstone became the first Native American nominated for Best Actress for the film “Killers of the Flower Moon,” making her the fourth Indigenous person to be nominated in the Best Actress category, joining Merle Oberon (who was part Maori), Maori actress Keisha Castle-Hughes, and Mixtec and Trique actress Yalitza Aparicio. In the supporting actor category, Indigenous Canadians Chief Dan George and Graham Greene received nominations for, respectively, “Little Big Man” in 1971 and “Dances with Wolves” in 1991.
Under LGBTQ+ representation, along with Domingo, is Jodie Foster (Best Supporting Actress nominee for “Nyad”), becoming the first time two performers who are openly LGBTQ+ have been nominated for playing gay characters.
Asian representation, which was front and center last year with “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” is nearly absent this year in all categories. The exception is first-time director Celine Song, who made history as the first Asian woman nominated for Best Original Screenplay, for “Past Lives.”
Representing female power after the big snub of Greta Gerwig being shut out for Best Director, Justine Triet landed a directing nod for “Anatomy of a Fall,” while Samy Burch, Song, and Gerwig were nominated in the writing categories.
“American Fiction” composer Laura Karpman is the fifth woman ever nominated for Best Original Score.
The South Asian film “To Kill a Tiger” earned a nomination in the Best Documentary Feature Film category. The film delves into the harrowing incident of the Jharkhand gang rape case. Directed by Nisha Pahuja, it highlights the disturbing events surrounding the gang rape of a 13-year-old girl. The executive producers of the powerful doc include British Indian actor Dev Patel and Indian-American actress/writer/producer Mindy Kaling.
In her welcome remarks early Tuesday morning, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences President Janet Yang noted that the organization’s membership now comprises almost 11,000 people from 93 countries. This was the first year that the Academy’s representation and inclusion standards, which determine eligibility for Best Picture, went into effect, yielding four nominated movies at least partially not in English (“Anatomy of a Fall,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Past Lives,” and “The Zone of Interest”) and four comedies (“American Fiction,” “Barbie,” “The Holdovers,” and “Poor Things”) joining “Oppenheimer” (13 total nominations) and “Maestro” (7).
The inclusion standards state that at least some members of the cast, crew, or development/marketing/publicity/distribution teams must identify as a member of an underrepresented group, defined as women, historically excluded races or ethnicities, people of LGBTQ+ identity ,or people with cognitive or physical disabilities or who are deaf or hard of hearing.
According to the Academy, roughly a third of all nominees this year are women—a three-year high—and 19% hail from underrepresented groups (up from 15% in 2023). A record-high three of the 10 Best Picture nominees were helmed by women, though only Triet received a nomination for Best Director.
The Academy Awards will take place on March 10.
https://www.amnewscurtainraiser.com/2024/01/nominations-for-96th-academy-awards.html.
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