As if further proof was needed to confirm the fact that the Academy voters responsible for selecting Oscar nominees and winners were as out of touch as they were monolithic, The Hollywood Reporter is publishing transcribed conversations with anonymous members just to allow awards season pundits and lovers of cinema a brief glimpse into the mind of the "tastemakers."
These conversations are running all week leading up to this Sunday's Academy Awards ceremony, and anyone obsessed with insider information about the mechanics of the Oscars process was promised an insightful treat. That was until today's edition ran, when instead we got some disgusting ideology from one veteran Academy member, who shamefully raked Selma and its cast over the coals:
"First, let me say that I'm tired of all of this talk about 'snubs' — I thought for every one of [the snubs] there was a justifiable reason. What no one wants to say out loud is that Selma is a well-crafted movie, but there's no art to it. If the movie had been directed by a 60-year-old white male, I don't think that people would have been carrying on about it to the level that they were. And as far as the accusations about the Academy being racist? Yes, most members are white males, but they are not the cast of Deliverance — they had to get into the Academy to begin with, so they're not cretinous, snaggletoothed hillbillies. When a movie about black people is good, members vote for it. But if the movie isn't that good, am I supposed to vote for it just because it has black people in it? I've got to tell you, having the cast show up in T-shirts saying "I can't breathe". I thought that stuff was offensive. Did they want to be known for making the best movie of the year or for stirring up shit?
Wearing "I Can't Breathe" shirts to show solidarity with tens of thousands of protestors across the globe is offensive? I wonder if she thought the celebrities wearing "Je suis Charlie" pins at the Golden Globes was offensive, too. I highly doubt it. And to say Selma, a Best Picture nominee, is bereft of any art is so disconnected from sanity and reality that its offensiveness is borderline comical.
This nameless woman is depressingly just a microcosm for the larger purview of the Academy. She stated her views so bluntly and proudly as to say "fuck you" to anyone with their eyes open to the racial bias perpetuated by her Oscar voting ilk. Thanks for proving us right, anonymous Academy member.
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