“The latest wrinkle is the woke madness…they’re so crazed and they’re eating their own, you know, they’re just eating their young and [going] nuts. It’s just nuts.” — Oscar comedy writer Bruce Vilanch, speaking to The Ankler‘s Richard Rushfield and Janice Min.
From “Are the Oscars Over?,” a 3.22 Los Angeles magazine article by Scott Johnson:
“Have you heard about Aperture 2025?” [HE to Johnson: Yes, we’ve all heard of it but please continue.]
“It may sound like a Roland Emmerich sci-fi movie, but it’s actually more frightening. And much more controversial. It’s the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’s latest initiative to make Hollywood more equitable and diverse — more woke — by changing the rules by which films are eligible for Best Picture nominations.
“Here’s how it works: Starting in 2024, producers will be required to submit a summation of the race, gender, sexual orientation, and disability status of members of their movie’s cast and crew. If a particular movie does not have enough people of color or disabled people or gays or lesbians working on the set—and what is “enough” will be determined by a knotty tangle of byzantine formularies—then that movie will no longer be eligible for an Oscar.
“Not surprisingly, the plan is not being universally applauded in Hollywood. Critics say it’s invasive, anti-creative, opens the door to privacy issues, and is spectacularly unfair to actors and crew members, who may want to keep their sexual orientation or health profiles to themselves, not to mention to producers and directors who have enough to worry about while shooting a movie than to be saddled with the thankless task of tallying up the identity markers of their creative partners.
“’I mean, why aren’t animals in this?’ sneers one industry insider. ‘What if the main character is a horse?'”
