"Hollywood's Best And Whitest." Is Problem less Arquette Then Lack Of Diversity In Hollywood?
Complaining about Arquette and her phrasing.. especially since she has since tweeted a comment clarifying her intent… seems like missing the forest from the trees.
@PattyArquette: Wage equality will help ALL women of all races in America. It will also help their children and society.1:48 PM - 23 Feb 2015
The whole Oscars show opened with Neil Patrick Harris's number which touched on the pre-ceremony controversy over Selma's lack of nominations and the unusual whiteness of nominations this year.
Host Neil Patrick Harris joked about the Oscars' homogeneity in his opening monologue, saying 'Today we honor Hollywood's best and whitest. Sorry…brightest.'
I don't recall seeing any threads on DU mentioning Harris' line in his opening number.
And then, after numerous camera sweeps of the audience showing a see of apparently white faces, Harris asks Octavia Spencer, who was one of the few black faces there, to keep an eye on his briefcase. Thus ensuring that at least ONE black person would get camera time throughout the whole show. And Yes, I think that was his intent of asking her specifically to do this.
To refresh memories- there was an outcry from the black community over the lack of diversity when nominations came out. Al Sharpton wanted a meeting. "I have called an emergency meeting early next week in Hollywood with the task force to discuss possible action around the Academy Awards," he said.
The prestigious awards ceremony was widely criticized after its nominees for best actor, best actress, and best director were all white. In the past two decades this has happened only one other time, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Said Sharpton: "The lack of diversity in today's Oscar nominations is appalling and while it is good that Selma was nominated for 'Best Picture,' it's ironic that they nominated a story about the racial shutout around voting while there is a racial shutout around the Oscar nominations. With all of the talent in Selma and other Black movies this year, it is hard to believe that we have less diversity in the nominations today than in recent history."
And there HAD been a Diversity protest at Oscars planned by a Los Angeles chapter of civil rights group but it was cancelled at Ava DuVernay's request.
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/feb/22/diversity-protest-oscars-academy-award-ava-duvernay
http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-82888554/
I don't recall any DU'ers posting about that either.
So while some are all up in Arquette's face one wonders why she's forced to bear the brunt of the attack. My googling for quotes just now shows the rightwing nutjobs are also hammering on Arquette. Maybe she's ended up being a lightning rod with so much whiteness in Hollywood never getting aired properly. Kudos to Neil Patrick Harris for bringing it up. Seems there is still a conversation waiting to happen though.