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The pandemic is said to have increased diversity in the entertainment industry, with people of color making up 25.4% of the top movies of 2020 and women holding 47.8% of film leads in the same year. But has the same change come to pass in the awards shows of the pandemic era?
For some, the answer is a hopeful, resounding yes. For example, following the closure of movie theatres and cinemas around the world due to the pandemic, critics observed that major studios were forced to withdraw more mainstream big-name shows, leaving space for smaller streaming services and films to gain influence and attention.
For example, the 2021 Oscars (setting itself apart from the #OscarsSoWhite backlash of 2020) gained widespread attention this April with a lineup of nominations that was said to be its “most diverse yet”–almost half the nominees in the acting categories were people of color. The BAFTAs (British Academy Film Awards) also followed suit, with the ceremony described as being “almost unrecognizable from last year’s” for the “breadth and diversity of its nominees”–a much different reality than the one that took place in 2020’s #BaftasSoWhite.
On the other hand, not all awards ceremonies seem to be pushing for diversity within the industry. Notably, the Grammys, the world’s leading society in the entertainment industry, have still yet to show a significant change in their annual nominations regarding diversity. Despite renaming the ‘World Music’ category to the more inclusive ‘Global Music’, one critic pointed out that the 2021 nominations in this category were arguably no more diverse than before, with four out of five nominations given to artists who had already been nominated in other categories.
According to a study by the USC Annenberg Inclusion initiative released days before the 2021 Grammys, Black artists constituted about 38% of all artists on Billboard’s signature chart from 2012 to 2020; the amount of Grammy nominations they received during this time, however, were only 26.7%. Several artists of color left the 2021 ceremony without awards or were entirely ignored altogether. On one hand, the popularity of a song may not be the sole determining factor of artistic quality; on the other, only 10 Black artists have ever won the Album of the Year award since 1959. The Grammys have long been criticized for holding a “tenuous relationship with race”–and for many, it was one that had clearly not improved post-pandemic.
So, has the pandemic improved diversity in awards shows? The short answer is both yes and no. This is because the COVID-19 pandemic is said to have created progress in the entertainment industry, from nominations to awards, but progress seems to be moving at different paces depending on where you choose to look. Pandemic or not, the media industry still has a lot of change to undergo to be a place for everyone; in the very least, let’s hope that change comes soon.
