The Oscars Are Trying to Be Less White, Are Still Very White

The Motion Picture Academy is making a small effort to be less (overtly) racist by diversifying its membership pool.

Over 300 actors, directors, writers and executives are being recruited to join the Academy this year, including Korean director Bong Joon-ho of Snowpiercer and Oscar-nominated Argentinian writer-director Damian Szifron. Of the incoming members, less than 25 percent are minorities and roughly 25 percent are women.

According to The Hollywood Reporter:

On June 26, the Oscar-granting body invited a record 322 individuals to join. That should boost the group’s total membership — even with the inevitable deaths that occur along the way — above the 7,000 mark when an official tally is released this year.

THR’s diversity breakdown charts on their site merely group minorities into a generic “non-white” category, but the publication notes that the “reached out to all 322 members of the Academy’s biggest class ever and found more racial, gender and age diversity as the mostly white-male club seeks a shift.”

Cheryl Boone Isaacs says, “Our goal is to recognize filmmaking and talent no matter where you live.”