Imaginary racism at the Oscars

Hollywood took over the world Sunday night as the 86th Academy Awards hit the airwaves.

By now even the sad people who didn’t watch the awards know that “12 Years a Slave” went home with the award. This was a big deal because Steve McQueen, director of “12 Years a Slave” became the first black director of a Best Picture.

But there’s always one person who tries to ruin the mood. That one person was a dude in my telecommunications class who just had to point out that Brad Pitt’s name was called out before McQueen’s when they were walking toward the stage to receive their award.

Is that fact relevant? No. But did this spark a five-minute debate of racism in filmmaking? Yes.

Pitt’s name was said before McQueen’s. But it was not intended to degrade or disrespect McQueen racially or in any other way. It was because of the cinematic hierarchy.

Pitt is one of the producers of “12 Years a Slave.” And in the movie food chain, producers trump directors. In the four phases of producing a motion picture, a producer is someone who makes most of the decisions — development, pre-production, production and post-production.

They run things.

The Best Picture award goes to the best film of the year. It compiles all the categories of filmmaking previously awarded in the ceremony, such as acting, directing, writing and cinematography.  And who chooses the main cast, director, writer and cinematographer? The producer. McQueen is also listed as a producer, but it wasn’t his production company fueling the film. It was Pitt’s, along with a few others.

Pitt had more stake in the film. That’s why his name was called first. It had nothing to do with racism.

What still irritates me is that the guy in my class brought this up for no reason in front of 150 people when we were supposed to be talking about the virtual cinematography of “Gravity.” On a night when history was made, he just had to find a way to darken it.
I’ve said before that I think our society has an obsession with spotting racism, even in places where it doesn’t exist.

The majority of us have accepted that racism is bad, but know that it still exists somewhere. And when we don’t see it outright, we imagine it.

Ellen DeGeneres, host of the Oscars, ended her opening monologue with a joke related to this. “Possibility number one, ‘12 Years a Slave’ wins Best Picture. Possibility number two, you’re all racists.” I loved this joke, because it was something I and some of my friends had joked about, too.

It exploits the stupid idea that if we don’t rain praise on African-Americans and their work, we are just as racist as the people in the 1950s. In reality, it is those sort of implications that degrade and disrespect people and their work. Pity and guilt votes don’t do anyone any favors.

It takes hard work and talent to tell a good story, and that’s what the cast and producers of “12 Years a Slave” did.

lnbanks@indiana.edu
@LexiaBanks