How Hollywood is becoming less white

The film industry has been one of the most successful and influential industries for over a century,
yet why has it been dominated by one ethnicity?

In February of this year, Parasite beat out 1917, Little Women, Joker, Once Upon A Time In
Hollywood, Ford V Ferrari, JoJo Rabbit, Marriage Story and The Irishman to become the first foreign
language film to win the coveted Best Picture award at the Oscars. The film, directed by Bong Joon-
ho, was very much considered an underdog when it came to the nominations, with Sam Mendes’s
1917 (a British film made by a white director I might add) being one of the favourites to win. The fact
Parasite’s win was so historic makes you think, as there have been many foreign language films in
the past that definitely deserve this accolade. One such film is Guillermo Del Toro’s heart-wrenching
Pan’s Labyrinth, which wasn’t even nominated for Best Picture. To say the film is critically acclaimed
would be an understatement, with many considering it to be one of Del Toro’s finest works. Another
film that wasn’t nominated was Fernando Meirelles’s City of God. The story of City of God’s
treatment by the academy shows the hardships that foreign language films have to face. The film,
originally released in 2002 didn’t garner to much buzz or critical reception, quite frankly because not
a lot of people saw it, this meant that the film obviously wasn’t nominated for any Oscars. However,
later on in the year Miramax released City of God in over 150 cinemas over the United States. Many
people then went to see the film and it was then finally revealed to be the masterpiece that it is.
Because of its popularity with critics, City of God was then prominently nominated for four big
Oscar’s at the next year’s academy awards. The moral of the story is that Many foreign language
films, just like City of God, have to garner a lot of popularity to just be considered for Oscar
nominations, which already gives them a disadvantage when it comes to collecting up awards.

Even though Foreign language films have been unfairly judged in the past, you could partially see
why some audiences maybe slightly put off by the language barrier. However, the film industry has
had an entirely unjust vendetta against black people and other ethnic minorities for almost all of its
lineage. Black people in particular have been marginalized for decades by most of the ‘elite ‘higher
ups in the industry, especially in the horror genre, where the first victim is almost always a black
man. In fact, it can be argued that this prejudice has been recognized as far back 1968 in George A
Romero’s night of the Living Dead, in which it sees the protagonist, Ben, a black man played by
Duane Jones, survives a zombie attack only to be shot by white men ‘mistaking’ him for a zombie. It
has been argued to death over the years if the posse shot him over his ethnicity or simply that they
thought he was a zombie, but it is safe to assume that this is commentary of the racism in the world,
and is sadly still very relevant to this day.

Now, enough of the negatives. Over the last decade or two minorities have flourished in the film
industry, with big stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Lupita Nyongo, Viola Davis, Jaime Foxx, Chadwick
Boseman and Michael B Jordan (just to name a few) all being massive names in Hollywood and are
all beloved. It’s not just in front of the camera where black actors have been dominating, with Jordan
Peele proving he is a master of horror and comedy, Spike Lee being a veteran, with his films teaching
many people about the BLM movement and Black Lives in general. His new film, ‘Da 5 Bloods’ which
happens to star Chadwick Boseman, is a vital film to watch at the moment, with all the protests
happening throughout the world. The film focuses on 4 Vietnam veterans who return to the country
to find the remains of their fallen captain, and gold, which they buried while they were serving. The
film mostly focuses on the bond between black ‘brothers’ (bloods) as it’s main theme, highlighting
the struggles that black people face, but also the unity they find facing these struggles together.
PTSD is also shown in a realistic (if slightly underplayed) way, but it doesn’t take away from the race
aspect of the film. The morality of the Vietnam War is also questioned, with the accusation that the
white American government sent in black soldiers to fight on the front lines being examined and
pushed into the limelight. The fact this film was released on Netflix is very significant, as it makes it
very accessible to most people, so they can learn about Black History easily. Overall, Da 5 Bloods
makes for excellent viewing that enhances people’s knowledge of black lives, while also highlighting
how war effects people in horrible ways.