I have plans Sunday that involve four hours of television watching, a bowl of popcorn and Joan Rivers’ endless and snarky commentary on whether Angelina Jolie or Jennifer Aniston looks better in her chosen dress. That’s right — I’ll be watching the Oscars along with more than 40 million Americans.

It’s no coincidence the vast majority of the nominations appear especially white and male, save for ‘The Help,’ which problematically features privileged white women ‘saving’ and ‘helping’ their black female maids out of oppression.

The Los Angeles Times released a study Sunday that found 94 percent of the 5,765 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences are white and 77 percent are men. The newspaper also reported black and Latino voters only account for 2 percent of academy members.

Anyone who pays the littlest bit of attention to the Academy Awards can pick up on the fact the award show and nominations in general lack diversity. While this may have been obvious in the past, The LA Times has provided us with the numbers to support claims of inherent racism and sexism.

No individual is objective. Our unique perspectives are all shaped by our personal experiences that result from our social locations. The roles that we are often born into and have little control over — race, class, gender and sexuality — determine the trajectory of our lives and of our opinions. With that said, Oscar voters are greatly shaped by these factors, and this affects the outcome of Academy Award winners.

Viewers who hold the academy in the highest esteem as film critics and consider them the deciders of which movies are the years’ best should not lose this acknowledgment of extreme whiteness in the Oscars. With these facts and statistics about the overwhelming number of privileged white males who vote in the academy, moviegoers and Hollywood participants alike need to think beyond which actors and movies win Oscars and get nominations. They also need to think critically about the reasons why.

These numbers also reflect the male-dominant culture and majority that rules our society — we saw it last week in Congress’ hearings over birth control where a panel of mostly white men gave input on a mostly female issue — and it also confines individuals to function within these largely white and largely male systems.

Directors, screenwriters and actors all make decisions about which movies to work on and how to proceed working in the business of film based upon the opinions of a select group of white males who distinguish what counts as ‘a good film,’ or at least worthy of an Oscar nomination.

Race, gender and the ways in which they’re intertwined play key roles in these major societal institutions. We need to hold the academy responsible for making more diverse and inclusive decisions regarding both nominations and membership that will result in a higher-quality award show and, in turn, change the movie industry for the better.

I’m still looking forward to watching the Academy Awards on Sunday — I didn’t spend all that money at the movie theater and on Redbox movie rentals all year for nothing — but I now have a responsibility to watch the award show and contemplate the results more critically. It’s important for viewers to consider and think about how votes are cast and decisions are ultimately made.

Krystie Yandoli is a senior women and gender studies and English and textual studies major. Her column appears every Wednesday. She can be reached at [email protected] or followed on Twitter at @KrystieLYandoli.    

Published on February 21, 2012 at 12:00 pm