Post Magazine

March 2016

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www.postmagazine.com 28 POST MARCH 2016 ll the glitter and pixie-dust has finally settled on the red carpet and the 88 th Oscars are over — and so are the races. Except for one. That would be the race problem. For the second consecutive year, the Academy failed to nominate any actor of color. On top of that, several critically acclaimed — and commercially successful — films that featured diverse casts, in- cluding Straight Outta Compton, Beasts of No Nation and Creed, were snubbed when it came to the Best Picture nominations. No wonder the talk of boycotts, protests, backlash and the trend- ing #OscarsSoWhite hashtag quickly dominated the entertain- ment world and the 24-hour news cycles after the January 14 th nominations announcements. Will the 6,000-member Academy — reportedly 95 percent white, almost 80 percent male and with a median age of 62 — change its ways in time for next year's voting? Stay tuned. In the meantime, the 88 th Oscars did honor diversity — in the sense that the nominations spread the wealth and love around a wide range of films. The period revenge tale The Revenant led the pack with 12, but close behind was the kinetic actioner Mad Max: Fury Road with 10, followed by the sci-fi survival tale The Martian with seven, and then six each for the Cold War thriller Bridge of Spies, the sex abuse scandal drama Spotlight, and the lesbian drama Carol. Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Big Short each earned five, Room picked up four — and Sylvester Stallone returned with a nod for his comeback performance as Rocky Balboa in Creed. So who ended up grabbing the golden boys and who end- ed up crying into their flat champagne? Here, we take a look at the races, the results and examine why voters embraced some films and nominees, while remaining indifferent to the charms of others. BEST PICTURE The Academy can nominate up to 10 movies now, but — like last year — it stopped short with eight this year; The Big Short, Bridge of Spies, Brooklyn, Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant, Room and Spotlight. Unlike last year, when only American Sniper, the biggest hit ($550 million) of Clint A BY IAIN BLAIR Oscars WRAP UP A LOOK AT THE NIGHT'S BIG WINNERS

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