Looking At Diversity Through Hollywood's Lens

For the second year in a row, only white actors and actresses have been nominated for Academy Awards. In the days following the announcement of this year's nominees, some filmmakers pledged to boycott the Oscar ceremony in protest, while others shared outrage on social media with the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite. In response, the Academy announced several structural changes aimed at diversifying its membership.

Corey Walker is dean of the college and a professor at Winston-Salem State University. He's also an African-American film director and producer, and he currently serves on the board of the RiverRun International Film Festival. He recently spoke with WFDD's David Ford.

Interview Highlights:

On the broader questions raised by the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences:

"I think this is really part and parcel of a deeper problem. The Oscars have become the touchstone for a number of deep questions exploring: How do we live in a diverse democracy? How do we represent the varieties of our citizenry in this democratic experiment? And most importantly, how do we understand various representations of various cultures, ethnicities, questions around gender and sexuality, and through the medium of film?"

On Hollywood's continuing role in perpetuating black stereotypes – even as AMPAS begins to deal with structural diversity issues – and on hope for the future in the world of independent film:

"When I look at the films of, let's say, Haile Gerima, or Julie Dash's classic film 'Daughters of the Dust', or if I look at a Charles Burnett film like 'Killer of Sheep', these films not only tell me about a particular representation of African-Americans, they're representations of the human condition. So, inasmuch as we're looking at films where African-Americans break the representational mold, we also need to realize films that center on African-Americans provide us with an insight into the human condition that we all need to develop a lens and a perspective and an understanding to see. So, with those structural issues I think there has to be a deep, self-critical conversation in the Academy around film, representation, and the politics of race. You can't get outside of it."

On the persistence of black exclusion not just in Hollywood, but across the board in business, education, and government:

"What we're wrestling with — and this is one of the great strengths of our democracy — is how do we represent the full breadth and variety of cultures, peoples, ideas in our democratic culture across all spaces? Hollywood is now at the center because of the Oscars, but it is not isolated from broader trends in our society, and we as a public should begin to have that broader conversation upon which the issue of the Oscars is just but one symptom of a deeper issue that we have to wrestle with."

The 2016 Academy Awards ceremony takes place Sunday, February 28, beginning at 8:30 p.m.