It’s never been easy to take the Oscars seriously, but it gets harder each year, especially as the Academy stays white and male while the rest of America (and indeed, the international moviegoing audience) becomes more diverse.
Meanwhile, studio filmmaking, from which the majority of nominees and awardees are culled, now looks about as demographically relevant as opera. At least opera has an excuse — that world recycles works from centuries ago, when most women weren’t taught to read and slavery was an everyday reality. So what’s Hollywood’s excuse for being so stuck in the dark ages that, as of 2012, 99% of its Best Director winners were men, while 93% of its Best Actor winners and 99% of its Best Actress winners are white?
For more stats about the entrenched racism and sexism in Hollywood, check out Lee and Low’s wonderful infographic below — a great snapshot of how, despite all the advances in technology and special effects in the past half-century, our mass-market entertainment products are still stuck in 1955.