The Oscars showcase the glamorous celebration of the best performances of people from the film industry, but the biases of the
Academy shine a spotlight on the standards that the ‘Best’ are judged on. Many devoted Oscars viewers find themselves disappointed year after year as systemic biases and campaigning schemes According to The Inclusion List, since its inception in 1929, there have been 13,445 total nominees; only 17% of them have been women and 2% of nominees were Black. Out of the 481 nominees for Best Director, only 9 were women. The Academy Awards have had a history of racism and sexism, with Halle Berry being the first and only Black woman to win “Best Actress” in 2002 for her role in Monster’s Ball.
According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, there are 19 branches in the Academy voting system. Each branch and its members are attributed to a different film craft. In total, there are 9,905 voting members as of 2024. The members of each branch nominate either actors, directors, writers, or others for Oscars. However, in 2022, 81% of the Academy voting members were white, and 67% were men. So how diverse are the Oscars today?
One avid Oscars viewer, Taylan Hummel, ‘25, says that she was very disappointed to see that the movie Barbie was not “nominated for more Oscars” in 2024, and that both “Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig were not nominated, but Ryan Gosling was.” Many movements to change the systemic issues in the Academy have been made over the years, like the #MeToo movement and the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag, which have had great impacts on the nature of the awards. The sexual abuse that famous producer Harvey Weinstein engaged in throughout his career is considered to be one of the greatest driving forces of the #MeToo movement. The phrase went viral in 2017 after the actress Alyssa Milano used the hashtag to speak out about the abuse she experienced by Harvey Weinstein.
Hummel believes that, “the culture of the Oscars changed a lot after the #MeToo movement, and it was very influential because it got Harvey Weinstein out of the industry. People were speaking out and criticizing [the system].”
#OscarsSoWhite was a hashtag on social media that criticized the historically white list of nominees and winners of the Academy Awards. According to The Inclusion List, in the 9 years following the launch of #OscarsSoWhite in 2015, the percentage of nominees from underrepresented racial groups increased from 9.5% to 17% compared to the number from 2007-2015. The Oscars have a history of unfairness toward women and people of color, but Hummel says that she thinks that the winners are becoming more predictable because, “there is definitely a type of film that gets nominated and wins. Usually the movies are by big-name directors, and are dramas. Horror films and stuff outside of the norm aren’t nominated often.”
The predictability and seemingly generic nature of recent Oscars winners isn’t the only reason why Hummel believes the awards are biased, as she cites the “lobbying behind the scenes” as another key factor that detracts from the merit-based nature of the awards. Hummel wants “the best actor or movie” to win instead of the nominees “market[ing] themselves towards voters.” Elin Johnson, ‘26, believes that the Academy’s selection of nominees and winners is somewhat predictable because, “they always pick the really highly critically acclaimed movies and not quite the public favorites,” and she would like to see more credit given to movies that are wellliked by the public to allow the viewers to feel more represented in the Academy’s selection of winners.
Over the years, the Academy has shown change in their nomination and voting systems by including more nominations for people of color and women, recognizing them for the influential work that they contribute to the film industry. Though this change has had a positive impact on the representation of individuals in the industry, there are still disparities that must be addressed by the Academy.
