Black Oscar winner stays cool
You can tell the Academy Awards are in trouble when there’s a “Don’t boycott the Oscars” movement, but, as Roger Ross Williams (who’s black) says, “Staying away from something that needs to change is no way to change it.”
Williams, a member of the academy, has joined others in writing columns for the Hollywood Reporter about the steaming “#OscarsSoWhite” controversy that erupted after an all-Caucasian roster of nominees was announced for the February 28 awards.
Williams’ short documentary “Music for Prudence” grabbed an Oscar in 2010 – making him the first African-American director to win – and his feature doc “Life, Animated” was this year’s champ at the Sundance Festival.
Admitting he’s “troubled” about working “within an institution that does not seem to recognise that I am a statistic”, he says he shouldn’t have been the first black director to win an Oscar – 81 years after the first Academy Awards were dished out.
Nevertheless, he “applauds” the academy for the changes it’s now making, seeking to broaden membership for more diversity in the selection process. But he’d like to see older members booted out. “There are simply too many who were voted in during a less inclusive era and still remain a large voting bloc even though they haven’t worked in the field for decades.” Williams writes.
“If Hollywood refuses to keep up with the ever-widening variance of ethnic presence in the population, then we should not wait around until they choose to do so.”
Today’s tennis lessons
The Australian Open, first of the four annual Grand Slams in tennis, was only half-predictable, with Novak Djokovic grabbing the men’s trophy and Serena Williams missing out on the women’s. There must have been more to it than that, says Talek Harris of Agence France-Presse.
- Men’s tennis needs a rivalry: As good as Djokovic is, “it isn’t much fun watching him trample over his competitors time and time again”. He needs a true competitor across the net. McEnroe had Jimmy Connors. Federer had Nadal. Djokovic carved up Andy Murray 6-1 in the first set on Sunday.
- Serena’s not a robot: Angelique Kerber handed Williams her first defeat in six trips to the Melbourne finals, which means Serena has more work to do to pull level with Steffi Graf’s record of 22 Grand Slam titles, Harris points out.
“As much as I would like to be a robot, I’m not. I try to,” Williams said.
- Tennis has a corruption problem: It wasn’t news to those in the know, but match-fixers prey on tennis and Top 50 players have repeatedly fallen under suspicion without facing action. The flurry of revelations and accusations included Djokovic confirming he was approached to take a dive early in his career.
- It’s only a game: Andy Murray was able to shrug off his fifth Australian Open final defeat chiefly because his first baby is on the way and his father-in-law collapsed at the arena in the first week. “For me,” he said, “my child is more important to me, and my wife is more important to me, than a tennis match.”
