(White) Women Are Increasingly Landing Lead Roles in Films, Study Finds

Hollywood is getting better at casting more female leads, according to a new study, but it’s mostly white women in said roles. The report also found that—strangely—female directors are more prone to hiring women than are their male counterparts.
This One Detail Is Going to Make This Year's Oscars the Best Ever
Some might be dreading the homogeneous quality of this year’s Oscar winners, but there’s a detail about the awards ceremony that’s brand new, and it’s going to make it an absolute game changer.
The DuVernay Test: Are Minorities in a Movie More Than Scenery for White People?
The Bechdel test, as you know, asks whether female characters in a film speak to each other about things other than men; the DuVernay test, newly minted by the New York Times, asks how many times minorities speak about things other than white people. You know, like people of color actually do!
President Obama Says What Everyone Else Is Saying About the #OscarsSoWhite Debate
The #OscarsSoWhite debate has made its way to the White House and, to no surprise, President Barack Obama thinks Hollywood could stand to be a tad more diverse.
Hollywood’s #OscarsSoWhite Takes, Ranked

Hollywood has just learned a new word: diversity! The movie business has always been massively white, but only recently, in the wake of the #OscarsSoWhite campaign, has the Academy perked up and outlined plans for widespread changes designed to equalize its membership and voting process.
The Academy Introduces Major Changes to Increase Oscar Diversity
In response to the overwhelming whiteness of this year’s Oscars (and Hollywood’s diversity problem in general), and as promised by president Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has introduced a major overhaul to their membership process.
Oscar Winner Lupita Nyong'o Is 'Disappointed' By This Year's Oscar Nominations
2014's Best Supporting Actress Lupita Nyong’o has joined an ever-growing list of celebrities and members of Hollywood who have used a variation of the word “disappointed” to explain their feelings about the very white list of Oscar nominees this year.
Academy President Says the Oscars Will Look Into Its Recruitment Practices
After expressing frustration over this year’s all white Oscar nominees, the Academy’s president Cheryl Boone Isaacs is making moves to try to diversify its membership.
Spike Lee Is Boycotting the Oscars, Calling the Awards 'Lilly White'
Following Jada Pinkett Smith’s criticism of this year’s Oscars for the Academy’s failure to recognize films made by and featuring people of color, Spike Lee announced on Martin Luther King Day that he would not be attending the award show.
The Academy's Black President Is 'Disappointed' With the All White Oscar Nominees
Even the Academy president can’t hide her disappointment with this year’s all-white Oscar nominations.
Leonardo DiCaprio Does Not Deserve An Oscar for The Revenant. Come On.
Critics agree. The Revenant is a visually and emotionally visceral film in which Leonardo DiCaprio puts himself through actual physical and mental torture. They say this movie is peak masculine grit and fortitude—the story of a true survivalist—and Leo will finally win an Oscar for Best Actor. I find that laughable.
