And the Oscar goes to ... a white actor, of course

The race controversy concerning this year’s Academy Awards is a bottomless pit. So let’s jump right in.

The safe position is thatWill Smith, Idris Elba and Michael B. Jordan have been done wrong by theHollywood establishment. The safe position also is satisfyingly ironic. When it comes to racial awareness, the smug, left-leaningHollywood crowd is roughly aligned with the Republican presidential field.

The evidence of racism in the Academy’s non-nominations is mostly circumstantial. But the circumstantial evidence is persuasive.

The less politically correct position is that the nomineeswere snubbed because their performanceswere not Oscarworthy. Charlotte Rampling, herself a nominee, rather clumsily offered up that theory with her comment that theOscar controversy is “racist to white people.”

Even suggesting such a thing is bound to be perceived, by some, as an expression of racism. If you do not agree that the failure to nominate black performers is proof of racism, then your disagreement is proof that you yourself are racist.

Andwoe unto anyone who maintains that the controversy has slipped into the proposition that performers should be nominated— or win— because they are black. And yet there is circumstantial evidence that black performers can win awards because they are black. Just look at the overwhelming success of minority actors in the Screen Actors Guild Awards — where much of the voting took place after the Oscars controversy broke.

These questions can get very tangled very quickly. Consider “Straight Outta Compton,” a film about the pioneering rap groupN.W.A— whose actors and director were snubbed for Oscar nominations. The movie ignited controversy of its own when it debuted because the film ignored the real-life Dr. Dre’s abuse ofwomen. Does a film that ignored the mistreatment of women have standing to complain that its performers are victims of racism? Was it reverse racism to portray black characters as nobler than theywere in real life?

Then there’s this twist: “Straight Outta Compton’s” screenwriters— the ones who glossed over the rap culture’s sexism— were nominated for an Oscar. But they’re white. Did they leave out their subjects’ violent sexism because they didn’twant to offend black audiences or performers or the people theywere writing about?

I have not seen “Straight Outta Compton,” “Creed,” “Beasts ofNoNation” or “Concussion.” Neither have I seen most of the other films nominated for this round of Oscars. Even if I had seen every film, my opinion of the performances— Oscarworthy? Not?— would not settle the issue. That’s part of the point. Judgments on these performances are subjective. Subjective opinions might— or might not— be influenced by racism.

In any case, I long ago gave up on the Oscars as the arbiter of film quality. The exact momentwas in1999, when “Shakespeare in Love” beat “Saving Private Ryan” for Best Picture.

As it happens, though, “Shakespeare in Love” provides a segue into a topic related to racism inHollywood. Is it racist to cast white actors to play characters of another color or ethnicity? Joseph Fiennes, who played Shakespeare in “Shakespeare in Love,” has just been cast to play Michael Jackson in amovie. Therewas no black actor who could play the part?

The same controversy touched the movie “Pan,” in which RooneyMara played Tiger Lily, and the pending film “Gods of Egypt,” in which none of the major characters is portrayed by an ethnically appropriate actor.

But isn’t pretending to be something you’re not part of acting? The claim you should hire ethnic actors for ethnic parts is a labor issue, not an aesthetic issue. Of course, the labor issue is valid aswell. If more black actors got hired, therewould be more performances by black actors, resulting in more Oscar nominations— unless theywere shut out by racism.

As noted at the start, this pit is bottomless. So I’ll just conclude with this observation: The FXNetwork has just launched aminiseries “The People vs. OJ Simpson,” that provides more grist for the discussion. One line spoken byOJ is, “I’m not black, I’mOJ.”

OJ, remember, was a star inmovies before his trial became the subject of TV movies. And OJ is played in the miniseries by Cuba Gooding Jr.

Whois an Oscar winner.

Contact JacWilder VerSteeg at jwvcolumn@gmail.com.