New Study Reveals That the Oscar Voters Are Overwhelmingly White and Male
Ever wonder who decides the Academy Award winners each year? Well, though the identities of the full list of the 5,765 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is a closely-guarded secret, the Los Angeles Times has done some digging and found out what demographics the voters fall into. And their findings are pretty shocking.
According to the LA Times study, 94 percent of Oscar voters are Caucasian, 77 percent are male, and 86 percent are older than 50 years old (the median age is 62). Just 2 percent of voters are black and less than 2 percent are Latino. And while about half of these voters are currently working in Hollywood today and have appeared on screen within the last two years, there are also hundreds of voters who haven't worked in the film industry in several decades. That's because, according to Academy rules, membership is for life.
There are even voting members who have left the film industry altogether and moved on to completely different careers -- including a nun, a bookstore owner, and a retired Peace Corps recruiter. Yet, because they are lifetime members of the Academy, their votes each year hold just as much weight as say, Meryl Streep or Steven Spielberg. Is this fair? No, probably not. But it's how it's all been going down for decades.
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I can't help but wonder if this is why certain "upsets" have occured at the Oscars over the years. Sandra Bullock winning for The Blind Side over Gabourey Sidibe for Precious, Reese Witherspoon winning for Walk the Line over Felicity Huffman for Transamerica, and Crash winning Best Picture over Brokeback Mountain are just a few to come to mind. And looking at these wins/losses through the point-of-view of the Academy's mostly old, white male population, it's all starting to make a lot more sense.
The Times asked some prominent Hollywood actors their feelings on the Academy's unbalanced population. Oscar winner Denzel Washington said the academy should "open it up" and balance its membership. "If the country is 12 percent black, make the Academy 12 percent black," he said. "If the nation is 15 percent Hispanic, make the Academy 15 percent Hispanic. Why not?" And Viola Davis, Oscar nominee this year for her role in The Help, said she doesn't even know who the members of the Academy are.
But Academy president Tom Sherak is hoping things will start to change and is encouraging more diverse film industry members to apply for membership into the Academy. "Come to us," he told the Times. "We'll get you in. We want you in. That would help us a lot."
So what does this all mean for this Sunday's 84th Annual Academy Awards? Well, when filling out your ballots for your office Oscar pools, try to think like an old white guy. It will give you an advantage for sure.
What do you think of the overwhelmingly white, older, and male population of the Academy?
Photo courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
