BAFTA Promised Inclusivity 3 Years Ago, All White Winners This Year. Under Scrutiny

[RAMROD 105,061]

The Bafta Awards have come under fire, after all the winners at its film ceremony on Sunday were white.

The prestigious British event had a diverse set of nominees, with people belonging to ethnic minorities taking almost 40% of acting shortlist slots.

But that did not translate into wins, with the 49 victors across all categories being white.

It comes three years after an outcry and subsequent reforms when all 20 acting nominees were white.

Marcus Ryder, director of consultancy at the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity, said Sunday's results were "quite depressing", and showed there had been "no substantial change" over the past decade.

"Ten years ago, in 2013, Lenny Henry made headlines at the TV Baftas when he labelled it as 'All white on the night'," he said.

"And depressingly, despite a massive overhaul, on which I and many other industry people were consulted and which resulted in 120 changes to the Bafta award processes, 1,000 new members from under-represented groups etc, the end result is there is no substantial change."

Film and TV critic and Bafta short film jury member Ashanti Omkar said she felt "quite devastated" after watching the ceremony and seeing the group photo of winners.

"Alison Hammond was the only person of the global majority in it, and she was not a winner but working at the event like many others who added colour to the red carpet, performed music and presented awards," she said. "That felt regressive and like these were cosmetic steps forward as opposed to real systemic change."

Writer and critic Leila Latif wrote in The Guardianthat, on the night, there was a "creeping discomfort that the awards were benefiting from the work and presence of many people of colour without ever handing them a statuette".

"By the end of the night, when it slowly sank in that every single winner was white, you could practically feel the Bafta team's heads sink into their hands as they braced for yet another social media storm," she said.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-64707017

https://www.vulture.com/2023/02/all-the-2023-bafta-winners-were-white.html

 

All this happening during Black History Month.

#BAFTASoWhite also trending all day today.

 

 

[RAMROD 105,061]

🍞🧀

 

[River 106,516]

BARFTA

[RichAssPiss 4,725]

The committee system does not work because (as with the former Grammy committee system) none of the committee picks are going to win when they did not have the support to get the nomination organically. So they just add diversity to the nominations, but the voting body still chooses white winners. 

[Cssomeone 1,576]

As much as I believe awards should be given based on talent/excellence and I am not mad about most of the winners because they were great (Banshees, Western Front) , the fact that EEAAO was so snubbed was bizarre. I am quite sure the BAFTA will not have much influence on the Academy Awards, where we'll likely see people of color winning (supporting actor and actress)

[Sherry 4,714]

Not some stupid racists commenting "Black people should work harder" 

What is wrong with people? 

[ALGAYDO 30,352]

Someone on my TL said that if POC actors wanted to win awards, they’d try to be better actors  racism is so engraved in some people that they don’t even know that they’re being racist 

[Fuffy 1,023]

Genuinely curious and I'm sorry if this comes across as dumb or offensive, that's not my intention.

But what % of white/non-white winners is acceptable and not acceptable? How do you draw a line to say it was fair without winners being tokenized or given the advantage due to race?

I'm wanting to educate myself on this as it confuses me. I'm not looking to argue, just understand perspectives.

I ask because this often comes up a lot and in predominately white countries that consume predominantly white media (though it's becoming more diverse). In my mind, that makes it statistically more likely that a white actor/film will win because there's more white actors/films in those societies. 

I'm technically part of a non-white minority (though I see myself as mostly white - long story) but in my mind it's probability that these winners won this year.

How can awards be distributed fairly both for quality and representation? And how do you be fair without discriminating positively? 

[HeardASine 427]

54 minutes ago, Gogo Yubari said:

But what % of white/non-white winners is acceptable and not acceptable? How do you draw a line to say it was fair without winners being tokenized or given the advantage due to race?

Idk if it's necessarily a percentage or threshold that people are looking for, but rather they are questioning why a film that is being awarded left and right would be snubbed by this organization that already has documented issues with looking over non-white nominees. However, I do think it's important to consider that a lot of the awards that were "taken away" from EEAAO were awarded to British films. 

[weed 71,448]

That's insane that 49!!! winners, for every single category, were all white. 

[LilyLark 9,933]

3 hours ago, HeardASine said:

Idk if it's necessarily a percentage or threshold that people are looking for, but rather they are questioning why a film that is being awarded left and right would be snubbed by this organization that already has documented issues with looking over non-white nominees. However, I do think it's important to consider that a lot of the awards that were "taken away" from EEAAO were awarded to British films. 

@Gogo Yubari

I'd also add that in the Rising Star category, that the POC actors (particularly Daryl McCormack) were snubbed. Emma is very talented and was in a well reviewed, but little scene, indie British film in addition to Sex Education, but Daryl was also nominated in the main category for best actor (not just rising star), starred in a critically acclaimed Irish TV series that just came out, etc. You also Naomi Ackie, who is o-starring in the latest Rob Pattinson film helmed by Bong Jo-Hoon, etc., and other POC actors in that category. And as much as I adore Emma, she's like fourth supporting in the new Barbie film apparently and is still very much an 'indie' actress in fairly low key films (not even helmed by the biggest indie directors).

It's like if someone with a well reviewed album, say 76 on MetaCritic, that sold well, won over people with albums in the 90s on MC who sold even more albums.

TLDR: It's a combination of figures....EEAO being completely shut out when it's winning everywhere else (tho it is true BAFTAs tend to favor British films, even if they've awarded US ones in the past) AND the lack of POC winners in other categories. Also, if EEAO had won 'one' award I feel like people would side eye the situation a little less....Anyway, it's not the 'percentage' so much as the complete shut out of a film that is receiving a lot of awards elsewhere (and is one of the few films that has a mostly POC crew/cast) and how the rest of the categories went.

Edit: I forgot the winner of rising star is voted on by the public, even if BAFTA chooses the nominees. But my point still stands....not a single award to a POC is pretty bad in a year where EEAO is dominating everything.

[River 106,516]

The problem starts when they see inclusivity as a goal and not as the norm. feels like they are just reserving like 10% of the nomination to POC actors just for the sake of it and say "look we are inclusive" and call it a day