Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Racism & the Oscars: It is not the Academy, it is the Northeast


The Oscar Boycott is a pathetic joke.  It is one of those laughable moments in Leftwing time in which one of the Left’s most loyal constituencies, in this case Black Hollywood, is throwing its guilt right back at that other loyal Leftist constituency, White Hollywood.  How beautiful can this get – especially in 2016?!  Hollywood Leftists fighting… Hollywood Leftists.
Of course, this is the best part of it all:  the Oscar Boycott is supposedly a manifestation of Black films or actors not getting the attention they deserve.  In this regard, I agree with the Black protestors.  However, while they point their fingers at old people voting on films and performances, they are missing the true culprit: Northeast racism.
Racism is indeed playing a role in the denial of Black actors, actresses, and films from the Oscars.  But it is not for the reasons that Black thespians think.  It all boils down to the money.  Follow the dollars from Hollywood to the money guys in New York City and you will find the roots of elitist racism at its finest.
The reason that Black actors and movie executives do not get Oscar nominations is simple:  they make crappy movies.
They do not deserve Oscar nominations.
But the issue is not the storylines often posited.  Rather, it is the availability of money made available to Black projects from New York based financiers.  Why?  Because New York financiers do not trust Black projects and therefore do not fund them.
Let’s go down this rabbit hole together.
Black people are preoccupied with race.  It is everywhere.  From charges of “White Privilege” to mythical exaggerations of Southern racism, many Blacks (not all) see Whites as a perpetually oppressive class.  That is too bad.  Most White people could care less about Black people.  That is not to say they hate them or dislike them, they just do not think about Black people.  Even the hardest White separatists will likely hold open a door for a Black person while walking out of a store or carry an elderly Black woman’s groceries out of sheer respect for her age.  Most separatists just want to be left alone.  Most non-separatist Whites just want to pay their bills.
Otherwise, contrary to legendary belief, White people do not sit around their Thanksgiving dinner tables wondering how best to oppress Black people in the upcoming year.  At least, not all of them.
First, it is important to understand what the Academy “is” and who are its electors.  It is a collection of highly respected professionals from various entertainment skill sets.  The vast majority are absolutely wedded to Leftist ideals.  They are probably so hyper-sensitive to the issue of race that they search high and low for quality politically correct candidates.  There is a long list of bad movies that have won Oscars against better competitors.
Academy members are also old, predominantly White people.
When you get into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, you are at a level in your career where you have achieved some form of recognition.  As such, the voters are naturally older.  This is a function of professional time.  Most Black films, whether they are action, comedy, romance, or drama, tend to have an urban edge to them.  Thus, just like hip hop is to older music lovers, older Academy voters are just not into the genres or storylines.  This is especially true of storylines that do not connect with them.
In this regard, it is much like asking my mother to critique Snoop Dogg.  She may find some of his stuff entertaining in a funny way, but she will not recognize any of the lyrics or style as something to weigh critically.  The same goes for movies.  Until the Academy goes through an additional generational shift from the White hippy dominated Baby Boomers to the Generation Xers that were brought up with Black themes in the mainstream, this will not change.
But there is more.
Black films that have resonated with the Academy have been historical pieces.  Twelve Years a Slave and Driving Miss Daisy are Black films that covered historically significant periods of time and won Best Picture.  Multiple Black actors have won Oscars for Best Actor despite relatively few high quality options.  Sidney Poitier won the Oscar for Best Actor before he could sit at the same lunch counter as his Director in half of the country.  Other films, like The Green Mile and The Blind Side, while not specifically Black films, tackled incredibly sensitive issues of race and were nominated for Best Picture.  Consequently, it is really hard to throw the Academy’s political correct bona fides into question.
There may be, however, some truth to the charge of racism.
I have a different theory:  what if most Black movies with serious content just plain sucked because they were deprived of cash?
Black activists have been so focused on Government institutions and the South that they have ignored the most racist demographic in the United States: White Leftwingers in the Northeast.  The difference is the constructs of their racism and the means to affect their racist agenda.  Money and fake smiles hide the truth.  The Northeast is racist.
Forget the Confederate Battle Flag!  It is not the symbol Black voters or racist entities think it means.  The NRA is not the enemy of Black actors, either; the NAR is.  I mean the National Association of Realtors, especially those realtor associations in the Northeast that ensure Black people stay in Black neighborhoods and wealthy White neighborhoods stay White in places like Connecticut, New York, and Massachusetts.

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