Photo courtesy of Brightest Young Things
As part of their initiative to promote diversity, the academy released their newest standards for representation and inclusion on Tuesday, Sept. 8. With these new requirements come four standards that films must meet in order to be considered eligible for the Best Picture category at the 96th Academy Awards.
The standards are applicable to the entire production process, from the actors and directors to the crew, interns and advertising teams. The four new elements on the standards list are on-screen representation and narrative, creative leadership and project team, industry access and opportunities and finally, audience development. Each condition is meant to promote diversity within all of the sectors of production and subsequently within the entertainment industry itself. The groups intended to be uplifted in the industry, and explicitly mentioned in the new representation standards, include women, members of the LGBTQ+ community, people with disabilities and people with a race or ethnicity that is underrepresented. In order to be considered eligible for the Oscars, films must meet two out of the four major standards.
These new standards will not go into effect until the 96th Oscars, which are set to be held in 2024. In 2020, the Oscars were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The awards ceremony for next year’s Oscars is currently scheduled for April 25, 2021, and there have not been any statements regarding representative guidelines for eligible movies in 2021. However, while the previously mentioned standards will not apply to the Oscars in 2022 nor 2023, both ceremonies during these years will require films to submit an “academy inclusion standard” form.
There have already been multiple criticisms made against the new representation initiative, both from those who claim it is a mistake and those who say it is not enough to combat underrepresentation in the entertainment industry. Fox News commentator Todd Starnes tweeted, “According to the Academy Awards the most important consideration in making an award-winning film is not to be white.”
However, the reality is that these new regulations are fairly minuscule in their impact. According to MovieMaker magazine, “A close reading of the rules shows that they would have had almost no impact on the last decade of Best Picture races – and wouldn’t even necessarily impact stories populated almost entirely with white men.”
The new representation and inclusion standards are part of the academy’s Aperture 2025, which is aimed to “further the dialogue … to create a more equitable and inclusive community” all-around in the film industry.
Other aspects of Aperture 2025 include goals to improve workplace culture, mandate bias training for academy governors, host panels and foster dialogue centered around diversity in film and adjust the viewing schedule in order to ensure that academy voters get the opportunity to see all eligible films.
This is not the first time the academy has taken steps toward diversifying the cast and crew of its nominated films. In 2016, the academy announced its A2020 initiative, with the goal being to double the number of women and underrepresented ethnic and racial communities within the academy.
The academy released statistical data and information about the accomplishments made by A2020. In fact, the raw numbers of women and members of underrepresented communities did indeed double. However, the percentage of active women members has only increased by 8%, and the number of active members from underrepresented communities only increased by 9%.
It seems as though the academy’s past initiatives to uplift and support voices in underrepresented communities have succeeded to do so, whether or not they reached their initial goal. One can only hope that these new guidelines do help encourage more representation in film and allow a space for previously underrepresented actors, artists and crew members to grow and create in the film industry.
