Helen Mirren Doesn’t Think It’s Fair That Everyone Is Shitting On The Academy Because Of #OscarsSoWhite

February 4, 2016 / Posted by:

Oscar winner and the new face of Budweiser Dame Helen Mirren was asked to brain burp up her thoughts on the fact that the Oscar acting categories are filled with nothing but white people for the second year in a row. While talking to the UK’s Channel 4 News (via The Guardian), Helen says that she doesn’t think it’s fair that everyone is coming for the Academy because it’s not their fault that the voters would rather watch a movie where Matt Damon makes caca potatoes (pootatoes) on Mars than watch a movie about child soldiers in Africa.

Dame Helen educated all of us not-knowing bitches on how things work. She says that panty cream-inducing hotness Idris Elba definitely deserved a nomination for Beasts of No Nation, but the truth is that not a lot of voters wanted to see it because it’s too depressing. That’s a bullshit excuse, because I was way less depressed after watching Beasts of No Nation than I was after watching Joy. I walked out of there thinking that I can’t believe I spent $11 and 2 hours of my life on that. But go on, DM:

“I think it’s unfair to attack the Academy. It just so happened this year it went that way. He [Idris] wasn’t nominated because not enough people saw, or wanted to see, a film about child soldiers in Somalia or the Congo or somewhere like that. They just couldn’t face watching that movie and so not enough people saw that movie. It wasn’t in the cinema for long enough. The thing is all of these things count, people don’t really realise how much these things matter. And because of all of that he wasn’t nominated – which he absolutely should have been. And if he’d been nominated we wouldn’t be having this discussion, but we should be having this discussion. The conversation is incredibly important. It forced the conversation.”

DM added what a lot of actors (like Viola Davis) and filmmakers have added, which is that it’s really not about the Oscars and is more about diversifying up the industry:

“I’m saying that the issue we need to be looking at is what happens before the film gets to the Oscars. What kind of films are made, and the way in which they’re cast, and the scripts … So it’s those things that are much more influential ultimately than who stands there with an Oscar.”

I’m shaking my head no to Helen saying it’s not right to attack the Academy. Attack those bitches! I’ll hold your purse (and yes, I’ll go through it while holding it, but that’s besides the point). But I am shaking my head yes to her saying that the diversity issue is bigger than the Oscars. But then again, even though the Oscars are nothing but a popularity contest and fashion show, they do have an effect on how movies get made. Example: There’s a zillion movies about the Holocaust because producers think that if they do a movie about the holocaust they’ll get an OSCUH! And producers also like to put Oscar winners in their movies because it sounds better when the words “And starring Oscar winner...” play in the trailer.

We could get into this mess more, but for now, let’s silently ponder about this issue while laying our heads on Idris Elba’s hard chest turnovers. It’ll help all of us think more clearly.

Pics: Wenn.com

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