#OscarsLessWhite: Introducing the 2016 Academy Class
After years of #OscarsSoWhite complaints from film fans all over the world, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences seems to finally, truly be making a dent in changing the face of its membership.
Geek favorites John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Emma Watson, and Alicia Vikander are only some of the 683 new members the Academy recently accepted across all film disciplines. That’s huge, considering that last year was then a “record-breaking” year with 322 new members. So, how does this year’s class compare to last year’s? The Academy’s website wants to make sure we know, considering they’ve pretty much doubled their numbers on all fronts: 46% of 2016 Class are women (compared to 22% last year), and 41% of 2016 Class are people of color (compared to 25% last year).
Remember Vulture’s list of 100 Women Directors Hollywood Should Hire? Today, the Academy invited 29 of them to join. https://t.co/TmGTiEpeNc
— Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) June 29, 2016
The Academy is also increasingly international. There are 283 international members in the new class and they’re from 59 countries. And in perhaps the best news of all of the 91 new directors accepted into the Academy this year, 48 of them are women, including TMS favorites like Lexi Alexander and Patty Jenkins! And as you can see in the tweet above, 29 of the 100 female directors listed over at Vulture are now Academy members.
Finally, the Academy seems to be putting its money where its mouth is and moving toward gender parity with a vengeance. Here’s hoping this isn’t just a passing trend.
For the full list of new Academy members, check out the deets over at the AMPAS website.
(image via rocor/Flickr)
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