Even amidst the powerful international films, Chris Rock and Will Smith slap jokes and a “Lift Me Up” performance by Rihanna, one film dominated this year’s Oscars: “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”
The manic multiverse fantasy, praised for its themes of existentialism, generational trauma and Asian American identity, won seven of 11 nominations for best picture, best actress, best supporting actor, best supporting actress, best director, best editing and best original screenplay.
MSU film and media studies professor Jeff Wray said that the film’s wins were a breath of fresh air to him.
“I think it’s wonderful in the moment ... but I think that the academy has been trying to be more systematic about who is in (it), but I also think they are pretty responsive … in a bad way,” Wray said. “In terms of when #OscarsSoWhite came about and really started to gain traction it was almost as if the Academy foundation was in this hissy fit to take care of it in one fell swoop.”
Wray said that the Academy, a historically white, male-dominated institution, is trying to address the issue of diversity in a manner of a year. This short-term goal, he said, has made the wins of films like “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Moonlight” intermittent and of little effect to the white average.
Michelle Yeoh became the first Asian American woman and second woman of color to win an Oscar in the best actress category since Halle Berry for “Monster Ball” in 2002. Berry remains the only Black woman to win best actress.
Similarly, Ke Huy Quan became the second Asian actor to win Best Supporting Actor since "The Killing Field's" Haing S. Ngor in 1985.
Wray said though these are monumental feats, they also further highlight how scarce minority actors and actresses winning Oscars are.
“It’s a relatively slow evolution,” he said. “You take Halle Berry in 2002 and Michelle Yeoh this year — man, that’s a long time. And it’s almost as if watching Michelle Yeoh’s speech, there was some things in her speech that were word for word what Halle Berry said back in the day when she won.”
Wray added that Yeoh’s role is notable because it gave her an opportunity to break out of her Hong Kong, action film-type casting. He explained that casting calls often use “coded language” to pigeonhole actors into roles. For example, a role that is advertised as suburban and All-American looking, he said, means white.
“You would never categorize this (as) a film (solely) about an Asian family, this is (also) a film about humanity,” Wray said. “I’m a Black man in my early 60s and I could see so much of myself in that film (because) I’m human, these folks are human, the story is well told, and I responded to it. That’s the thing I’m hoping to see more - give people a chance to respond to work that is rather expansive.”
This year, four out of the five international film nominees were from European countries and the winner of the category was the German film “All Quiet on the Western Front.”
Wray said these factors reinforce a Eurocentric narrative within the Academy.
“International in terms of the Academy is really code for European film,” he said. “You could almost have the hashtag ‘OscarsSoEuropean’ in some ways because there are really strong industries - Indian cinema, Hong Kong cinema, Nigerian cinema - that the Academy needs to pay attention to.”
Tollywood, the Telugu-language sector of the Indian film industry, received attention when the “RRR” track “Naatu Naatu” became the first Indian film song to win an Oscar. However, the song’s live performance at the award show came under fire for lacking representation, and though the original singers performed, none of the featured dancers were of Indian or South Asian heritage.
“It’s not a lot … to do a little homework,” Wray said. “I think I would agree that the (recruitment of dancers) was more out of convenience, and that’s giving them the benefit of the doubt. You’ve got this dance number associated with this film that has a certain perspective … go out and find the many great Indian dancers to be performers in it.”
Wray noted that the Oscars carry more than their weight in some ways.
“I’ll complain about the Oscars, but I also love the Oscars,” he said. “Sometimes I wonder why I care so much about them ... but they also have this prestige and an indicator (that) if we’re talking about equity and opportunity, we want it on all fronts — the highbrow stuff and the less than highbrow.”
He said ultimate equity is when people of color get opportunities, but within that, when they get the chance to be as great or as mediocre as white films are.
“We want folks to be conscious and aware,” Wray said. “If you’re conscious and aware, you’ll be looking towards the widest possible talent to populate and work on your film. That’s not woke-ism, that’s not diversity casting, that is simply being conscious of things.”
Wray explained that Hollywood has remained generally stagnant in its diversity and inclusion efforts because people, organizations, entities and institutions typically do not evolve on their own — they must be forced.
“I would include Michigan State in something like that,” he said. “I work here, I love it here, but at the same time, they don’t move without … some consciousness-raising. When you’re talking about the academy and the (Hollywood Foreign Press Association), some of that is embarrassment.”
In order for the film industry to effectively incorporate representation, he said, you have to go to the beginning of the filmmaking process.
“By the time you get to the Oscars or any awards or recognition, that’s kind of the end of the line,” Wray said. “If you want (that) ending to change, you have to … (ask) who’s making decisions on saying yes to this kind of movie, or yes to that kind of role ... lead actor, lead actress. We need to be expansive on the front end (and) have folks that look like me, folks that look like you making these decisions. … That’s where the power is.”
