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Danielle Driscoll
Dr. Steffen Guenzel
ENC1102H-0205
11 April 2016
The Milennial Sorority Racism of Hollywood
Racism has been an issue in America since the beginning of our independent nation.
From slavery to the segregation of Black and Whites to the Japanese internment camps to the
racism against Mexican immigrants; racism has run rampant against anyone that is of the
beloved caucasian race. So, when the richest industry in America gets put under the spotlight for
racism, a racism I was unaware existed, I became particularly interested in researching if this
racism was a flook or if it was in fact legit. The richest industry is Hollywood. They funnel
billions of dollars in funds to productions, with their profits doubling that. I intend on studying
acting, so being a woman (considered a minority in Hollywood), and just a career pursuer in this
industry, I found it necessary to research if this entertainment hub does in fact discriminate. In
the following essay, I aim to answer the question: Is Hollywood, in 2016, racist? Not only do I
answer this with my research, but I provide the different groups of talent that are marginalized in
this selective business as a result.
Anyone who knows about the entertainment industry knows that the most prestigious day
in Hollywood is the night of the Oscars. The Oscars are the Emerald City at the end of the
Yellow Brick Road, or in the Oscars case, the red carpet. It has been a reknown day full of class
and prestige. So, when Chris Rock delivered his controversial opening monologue as host of the
Oscars, the entire media industry blew up with Americas rage. Rocks monologue slammed the

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Academy with his opening lines, Im here at the Academy Awards, otherwise known as the
White Peoples Choice Awards. You realize if they nominated hosts, I wouldnt even get this job.
So yall would be watching Neil Patrick Harris right now. Neil Patrick Harris, a white man, was
the host of the 2015 Oscars. The reason behind such a racially focused opening to the show, is
that zero nominees were Black. In fact, every nominee was White, with no minorities nominated
for an award. This sparked an outrage in Hollywood. This was so offensive that many Black
celebrities such as the Smith family (Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, etc). along with many
others, chose to boycott the Oscars. This has not been the only instance in which there has been
a selective list of nominees with underlying racial prejudices. Despite the advancements made
as a country for equality amongst Blacks and Whites (dating back to the 60s at the time of the
Civil Rights Movement), and a push for more integration of Latinos and Whites in America,
there is still racism in 2016 in the most popular and wealthy industry in the world.
It is in fact shocking that in the year of 2016, the most respected entertainment hub is
criticized under the spotlight for discriminating against minority talent. There have been
numerous reasons for this racism, which Chris Rock likes to call sorority racism. In Rocks
monologue he stated sorority racism in a clever way, Is it burning-cross racist? No. Is it fetchme-some-lemonade racist? No. No, no, no. Its a different type of racistHollywood is sorority
racist. Its like We like you Rhonda, but youre not a Kappa. Hollywood is selective in their
casting and nominating, but somehow the nominations and jobs never fall into the hands of
Black actors. When these jobs do fall into the hands of these talented celebrities, they often are
cast as supporting roles that are detrimental to improving the all-around stereotypes pinned on

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Black people. In movies like Compton, the Blacks are seen as violent, drug-addicts with their
pants sagging low and no respect for women. In other movies such as Django: Unchained, Jamie
Foxx plays a runaway slave that kills a lot of people. The Black characters in almost all movies,
excluding comedies, are supporting roles where they die in the end or they fulfill the negative
stereotypes against their race. This, then creates an all around negative image of a Black person,
making it not a desirable candidate for a movie because nobody will want to go see it. By
nobody, I mean White people, considering White people are the biggest audience to the film
industry. This racial discrimination in movies then leads White consumers to resonate more with
actors of their own skin color, making White actors much more profitable to these large
corporations than a Michael Duncan Clark. Even other minorities such as Latino actors
acknowledge that diversity is a problem in Hollywood due to greed. Gina Rodriguez, a Latina
actor in the hit TV series, Jane the Virgin, commented on this greed, Hollywood isnt about
racism, its about money, (Moreno). That is why they cast more White actors than say a George
Lopez or a Kerry Washington for many roles, because the biggest movie consumer group
(Whites), will want to see a Brad Pitt as the lead of the film over Will Smith. This is due to the
bankability of these White actors. According to Zoe Williams, Race resonates with race.
Therefore, if you ever were to walk into a Tyler Perrys Madea Jones movie, you would see
practically the entire audience is Black. However, if you were to go to a screening of The Trailer
Park Boys Movie, you would see that nearly everyone is of caucasian race. It is evident:
Hollywood has a fetish with the White race, especially Male actors.
Hollywood is believed to have this obsession with White men as the biopics and lead
charactors for movies. A biopic, is a biographical movie, or a movie that dramatizes the life of a

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non-fictional or historically based person. Popular article writer, Kelsey McKinney did a survey
in which she studied the lead roles in 120 famous high-grossing biopic films that has received
over $3 million in box office profits and also had appraised criticism. She provides a chart that
shows that of these 120 movie roles, 78 of these movies had White men as the lead, followed by
21 White women, then 18 movies with Black men as the lead and only 3 Black women having
substantial roles in these movies. This means that 65% of biopics are about White men. This is
not to say that these men do not deserve their roles, paychecks, and praise, because they do.
However, what is frustrating is how little these White men have to do to receive such love and
approval from the audience in comparison to a female or minority actor. A Hugh Jackman can
simply take their shirt off, flex their extremely toned muscles, and they get nominated for an
Oscar. Black actors on the other hand have to be slaves in an old Western film or sacrifice
themselves in some subservient, inhumane fashion in order to receive any type of attention:
positive OR negative. However, Black actors are not the only minority receiving the short end of
this racism stick.
Latinos and women can also be seen as minorities within the film industry. Going back
to McKinneys statistics she states, Its amazing that in a society that is 50 percent women and
40 percent people of color, that 65 percent of biopics are about white men, to which she then
continues to say, When we look at this data, the wealth of stories about white men becomes
overwhelming. Not only are people of color rarely portrayed in major theater releases (17.5
percent), but women too are very overlooked (20 percent). This means that only 17.5% and 20%
of Blacks and Women are portrayed as important characters in critically acclaimed films. The
problem with this is that the audience becomes desensitized to the sorority discrimination

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against Blacks, Latinos, and
women. Thus, change within

the

industry becomes very hard,

because Hollywood has fallen
into the money quicksand and
they cant seem to find their
way out of White men
prejudices. Not only is this
undeniable racism affecting

the

actors that need employment

within the industry, but it also
affects those watching these
shows that do not properly
represent or even show the minorities.
Latinos are cast out in Hollywood as well. Latinos and Blacks alike feel that their racial
groups are not being properly represented in the media, which in turn creates a negative image of
that entire race. Not only does it influence the White audience to shy away from minorities as
lead characters and resonate with solely White talent, but it negatively affects the self-esteem and
mindset of these minority actors. In Carolina Morenos interview with actor Gina Rodriguez,
Rodriguez discusses her desire to change the way media approaches and views diversity and
minorities: I want to change the idea of minorities in the mediaGrowing up, I never saw my
home life reflected on screen, and that made me feel a certain way about myself. Its not only

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about my ethnicity; she continues, It made me feel a certain way about my beauty. Not seeing a
woman like me as a lead made me feel like Id never by skinny enough, Id never be pretty
enough. This statement from Rodriguez, the lead character in Jane the Virgin, proves that the
sorority racism in Hollywood is negatively affecting the minds of those minorities watching
these TV shows and movies where they are not present or represented in a stereotypical manner.
Despite the obvious racism, Hollywood and the Academy claims to be making great strides to
change this view of so many.
Before the 2016 Oscars even took place, there was an outrage against the Academy due to
the early release of the nominees. When the nominees were released and no Black or Latino
actors were listed on the ballots, there was an uproar amongst every day consumers and
celebrities alike. Hollywood tried to react to this by making almost all of the award presenters
Black, such as Kevin Hart and of course the host of the Oscars, Chris Rock. Hollywood and the
Academy obviously deny any type of participation in racial tendencies. Yet, if they are so
adamant about the fact that they are promoting diversity in the industry, why did it take an
outrage against the nominees for them to hire all Black presenters? Not only that, but the
Academy came out with a report stating that they would double the amount of minority members
within the next 4 years. If Hollywood is not racist, why is there such an instantaneous push for
this integration and diversity in Hollywood? It is because Hollywood knows that they have
been participating in these racist and sexist habits. People feel threatened only when there is truth
in whatever they are threatened by. Therefore, Hollywood and the Academy saw these slams as a
threat due to the truth behind the racial comments condemning the Academy. This makes in
evident that Hollywood is in fact racist.

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In conclusion, Chris Rocks monologue for the 2016 Oscars created the largest
controversy against the Academy to this day. He attacked the Academys reputation by calling
them out for their sorority racism habits, that is, their selectiveness and exclusivity of
nominations and overall lack of diversity in Hollywood movies today. While women and Latinos
also fall victim to this racism, it is mainly the Black population that feels undermined by this
years Oscar nominations. This problem has been ongoing for almost half a century, and the
Academy is just now deciding to respond to the hate and backlash, because they know that they
are in fact participating in prejudicial behaviors. The reason behind these behaviors and
involuntary racism, is due to the bankability of the White male as a lead role in a movie. White
people are the largest audience in terms of watching movies at a theater. Therefore, White males
are cast more than any other person (female, Latino, Black), due to the fact that more people will
go watch a movie with Will Ferrel in it than Samuel L. Jackson. Hollywood claims that they are
not racist and are making strides to incorporate more diversity into the industry. However, this
quick and exaggerated reaction to the criticism against the Academy shows the racism taking
place, otherwise they wouldnt feel obligated to make Chris Rock the host of the 2016 Oscars.
Again, Like Chris Rock said in his monologue, Hollywood is racist. Are they burn-them-at-thestake-or-lynch-them racist? Absolutely not. However, Hollywood, the richest industry in the
world, after almost 50 years after integration and equality laws for Blacks and Whites, is still
racist; sorority racist, which is equally as powerful and detrimental to society as any other form
of racism.

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