--- title: Oscars Still So White, So Male, So Wrong description: The Academy must expand its voter base in order to reflect true diversity canonical: https://time.com/4182419/oscars-so-white/ author: Jennifer Siebel Newsom article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-15T16:09:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-07-09T08:20:03.930Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Oscars Still So White, So Male, So Wrong og:description: The Academy must expand its voter base in order to reflect true diversity og:url: https://time.com/4182419/oscars-so-white/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f2530bd5adfb4b6/6988795d8e0601341d46427d/jennifer-siebel.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Director Jennifer Siebel Newsom attends as Brooks Brothers presents "The Mask You Live In" Los Angeles premiere at the Paley Center on April 23, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Oscars Still So White, So Male, So Wrong twitter:description: The Academy must expand its voter base in order to reflect true diversity twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f2530bd5adfb4b6/6988795d8e0601341d46427d/jennifer-siebel.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Oscars Still So White, So Male, So Wrong ## Video: 2016 Oscar Nominations [Watch (HLS stream): 2016 Oscar Nominations](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/u9EHqL8R.m3u8) (2:09)  _Published 2016-01-14_ by [Jennifer Siebel Newsom](https://time.com/author/jennifer-siebel-newsom-2/) ## Jennifer Siebel Newsom Jan 15, 2016 4:09 PM UTC  Director Jennifer Siebel Newsom attends as Brooks Brothers presents "The Mask You Live In" Los Angeles premiere at the Paley Center on April 23, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California. Director Jennifer Siebel Newsom attends as Brooks Brothers presents "The Mask You Live In" Los Angeles premiere at the Paley Center on April 23, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California.Donato Sardella by [Jennifer Siebel Newsom](https://time.com/author/jennifer-siebel-newsom-2/) ## Jennifer Siebel Newsom Jan 15, 2016 4:09 PM UTC This year, I was hoping for something more to come out of the [2016 Oscar nominations](http://time.com/4178963/oscar-nominations-2016/). After [snubbing](http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2015/01/15/why-ava-duvernays-selma-oscar-snub-matters/#2715e4857a0b22ea0ed33b60) Ava DuVernay’s powerful directing of _Selma_ and nominating [only white actors](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/01/14/oscars-so-white-2016) last year, I hoped they’d learned. After all, [#OscarsSoWhite](http://time.com/4180868/oscar-nominations-analysis/?xid=homepage) dominated the discussion around the awards and rightfully so—diversity in filmmaking and acting are paramount. Women and people of color are telling important stories and creating inspiring cinema. They deserve to be recognized, too. But unfortunately, the Academy has stuck to Hollywood’s worst status quo: privileging mainly white male voices at the exclusion of others. This is confusing, because there is so much great work to celebrate by diverse filmmakers, actors, screenwriters and cinematographers. Yet not one woman director or [black actor](http://variety.com/2016/biz/news/oscar-nominations-2016-diversity-white-1201674903/) received a nomination this year. And don’t say there wasn’t quality work or the audience wasn’t interested: the largest grossing film of the year, _Star Wars: The Force Awakens_, starred [a woman and two men of color](http://www.theestablishment.co/2016/01/14/the-significance-of-finally-seeing-yourself-in-star-wars/) and ignited a whole new generation of movie fandom. Many [acknowledged](http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/oscar-nominations-2016-snubs/) the amazing performances of Will Smith, Michael B. Jordan and Idris Elba—yet it seemed few women of color were even considered. Film stands to reap huge benefits, never mind be on the right side of history: increased diversity in television has brought in [increased viewership](https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/with-shows-like-empire-black-ish-and-cristela-tv-is-more-diverse-than-ever/2015/01/29/0ac38f82-a576-11e4-a2b2-776095f393b2%5Fstory.html) and new frontiers in artistic achievement. We should celebrate diversity in media that reflects the world we live in. This truth in storytelling resonates with audiences all over the world. And it’s good for society. The Academy could be leading this effort, not putting itself on the wrong side of history. I have personal experience with bias in the entertainment industry: When I made my first documentary, [_Miss Representation_](http://therepresentationproject.org/film/miss-representation/), I wanted to hire a female director, since the film explores how mainstream media and culture contribute to the under-representation of women in positions of power and influence. While there was interest from several prominent female filmmakers, I was eventually turned down by every single one, due to their fear of being blacklisted in Hollywood if they spoke out against the sexism and one-dimensional operation so prevalent in the entertainment industry. So I directed it myself, which ultimately was a gift, because I branched out from acting and producing and found my voice as a director. Marion Wright Edelman has a powerful quotation that became the motto for _Miss Representation_: “You can’t be what you can’t see.” With this year’s Oscar nominations, as in previous years, we are continuing to perpetuate the tired—and outdated—reflection of culture: the idea that to be valuable, you should be a white, and likely straight, male. Aside from providing purely escapist entertainment, art is supposed to inspire us, make us reflect on our humanity, and improve our society. And there are certainly works in this year’s nominations that achieve that—_Room_, _The Martian_, _Spotlight,_ to name a few. But to overwhelmingly celebrate the perspective of one type of artist does not truly challenge. It does not truly change us. It keeps us small. Let us demand a better acknowledgement of cinematic achievement by the Academy and others. One place to start would be to expand the membership of the Academy to better reflect audience members. Hopefully, by growing its voting base, the Oscars can help us celebrate varied representations in filmmaking and challenge us to build a healthier, more inclusive society, reflective of our modern culture and modern values. Now that’s an awards show I would be thrilled to watch. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4182419/oscars-so-white/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4182419/oscars-so-white/"},"headline":"Oscars Still So White, So Male, So Wrong","datePublished":"2016-01-15T16:09:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-09T08:20:03.930Z","description":"The Academy must expand its voter base in order to reflect true diversity","url":"https://time.com/4182419/oscars-so-white/","keywords":["Culture","gender","entertainment"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f2530bd5adfb4b6/6988795d8e0601341d46427d/jennifer-siebel.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Siebel Newsom","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jennifer-siebel-newsom-2/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4f2530bd5adfb4b6/6988795d8e0601341d46427d/jennifer-siebel.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Director Jennifer Siebel Newsom attends as Brooks Brothers presents \"The Mask You Live In\" Los Angeles premiere at the Paley Center on April 23, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California.","caption":"Director Jennifer Siebel Newsom attends as Brooks Brothers presents \"The Mask You Live In\" Los Angeles premiere at the Paley Center on April 23, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California.","creditText":"Donato Sardella","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/culture/","name":"Culture"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4182419/oscars-so-white/","name":"Oscars Still So White, So Male, So Wrong"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"2016 Oscar Nominations","description":"","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/u9EHqL8R/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-01-14T15:19:56.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/u9EHqL8R.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4182419/oscars-so-white/","duration":"PT2M9S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4182419/oscars-so-white/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```