Welcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration.
By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.
What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.
In September of 2020, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that movies must meet certain criteria in terms of representation in order to be eligible for the Academy Award for best picture beginning in 2024. The goal was to “encourage equitable representation on and off screen in order to better reflect the diversity of the movie-going audience.”
It means that in order to considered for an Oscar, films must meet certain benchmarks. They include that films should feature actors from under-represented groups in significant roles or accounting for at least 30% of the cast, and that the same 30% criteria should be applied for the crew working on the film behind the scenes.
Apparently, Oscar-winning actor Richard Dreyfuss is not a fan of the Academy Awards’ new diversity guidelines. In a recent interview on the PBS series “Firing Line,” Dreyfuss said that such rules “make me vomit.” He said that he feels that way because film is an art form. “It’s also a form of commerce and it makes money,” the actor said. “But it’s art. And no one should be telling me as an artist that I have to give in to the latest, most current idea of what morality is.”
Dreyfuss went on to say during the interview, “I don’t think that there is a minority or a majority in this country that has to be catered to like that.”
And that leads me to today’s provocative question.
Do you think that the metrics the Academy Awards will start applying in 2024 regarding composition of at least 30% of the cast and crew by under-represented groups in order for a film to even qualify for a Best Picture Oscar nomination is appropriate? Or, do you share Richard Dreyfuss’ opinion that because filmmaking is an art form, imposing such criteria in order for a film to even be considered for an Oscar is inappropriate?
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This, That, and the Other 
I don’t have much of an opinion on this matter, because one one hand I’ve seen many shows go this way and sort of become ridiculous by turning previously straight people into gays to meet this inclusion policy, and at the same time t try he first black actor to receive an academy award in 1964, 35 years after the start of Oscars.
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I can see what they are trying to do and you could make good arguments for either side but as Sadje has said, it can get a bit ridiculous.
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I agree with the entirety of Jim’s post 🙂
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I think it’s a ridiculous idea as a film should be determined on the merit of the writers, actors, presentation of the storyline and not the criteria of an individual’s standing.
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I agree. There are other ways to ensure diversity in the film industry.
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Although I think it’s time to make sure that not every role is automatically assigned to white actors, I think that this kind of rigidity will not improve films. The Oscars are already close to irrelevant and you add that? No one will even bother to apply for Oscars.
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I feel that any restriction on creativity is dangerous.
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I see the merits of it, no one is saying you CAN’T make a film without diversity, just saying it is perhaps less Oscar-worthy.
This actor saying art can not be controlled by society’s latest morality I think he’s got it completely wrong, I think great art is a mirror that reflects society back at us but perhaps I’m just being pretentious.
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in terms of representation in order to be eligible for the Academy Award for best picture beginning in 2024.
I think it could be worth the effort if limited to this one category.
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