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Danielle Driscoll
Dr. Steffen Guenzel
ENC1102H-0205
7 April 2016
Zoe Williams Discusses the 2016 Oscars and the Racism and Greed in Hollywood
The Milennium era has made more advancements (politically, technologically, and
socially,) through the cusps of the American milennial youth than any generation before. Gay
marriage has been made legal nationally, the Twin Towers were struck down by terrorism, and
the first Black president was elected into the Oval. Yet, the countrys most long-standing problem
still exists today in the most influential industry in the world, (despite the irony of our current
president): Racism and Hollywood. Racism is a controversial issue today, but especially in the
bright, spotlighted world of Hollywood. Chris Rocks monologue put America into an uneasy
feeling when he tackled the issue of racism. Chris Rock was host of the 2016 Oscars, in which he
took the opportunity to slam the Academy for their selective racism. As Chris Rock called in it in
his opening monologue, the racism present in Hollywood is sorority racism. Chris Rock stated
that the thought process behind big Hollywood companies is, Oh, well we like you Rhonda, but
youre not a Kappa. This connection in Chris Rocks opening monologue at the Oscars shows
that Hollywood is not only discriminatory racially, but greed and bankability is Hollywoods
motive for this.
The problem of sorority racism and greed that Chris Rock and every African American
entertainer has with Hollywood is not just one that exists in America. The Hollywood
entertainment hub has been victim of libel internationally for their selective nomination pickings.

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The Oscars event was such an outrage, that the entire world caught wave of the issue. Chris Rock
bringing a heavy awareness to the Hollywood racism in his monologue crossed borders, as the
problem is further discussed in Zoe Williams popular article in the British newspaper, The
Guardian. Williams, who has credible education from Lincoln College of Oxford in the field of
Modern History, argues throughout the article: The Oscars Whiteout Is Driven by Racism
and Greed, that the nearly entire White audience at the Oscars was a direct result of both greed
and racism in Hollywood, agreeing with Chris Rock.
Before the article begins, right underneath the title is the subtitle "The Hollywood film
industry has never tested the idea that a Black actor could be more bankable than a white one."
Immediately following this sentence is a photo of Idris Elba and Black actors from a movie that
was not nominated for the Oscars this year but had high ratings. This shows the bias of the article
before reading it. It also connects to the title, so I know that this author is upset about the racism
involved in the Oscars. The caption states that the movie was not nominated for an Oscar,
showing the disapproval of failure to nominate such a good movie, to which Williams poses the
question: What did it say to society that such a toweringly high-profile, public-facing institution
could fail in such an obvious way? (in regards to the Academy Awards).
Williams answer is that we, as a human race, value certain races and genders over
others, due to their bankability and how much money they can bring in. White actors are more
bankable than a Black or Latino actor. The reason behind this Williams claims, is due to the fact
that a race resignates more with their own race: John Skrentny, who runs the Center
for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California, describes a recruitment

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phenomenon he calls racial realism. What he means by racial realism is this: Black people
get more excited about seeing a Kevin Hart or Madea movie just as White people get more
excited and are willing to pay more when they see Will Ferrell or Mark Wahlberg's names as the
headliners. However, if White actors are primarily cast, then the audience will be primarily
White as well, making the White entertainer continuously seem more profitable. This, Williams
claims, leaves the stereotypical Black actors characters with a negative connotation: We accept
that the black half of any given duo is less likely to get the girl, more likely to be killed in a
comical or tragic accident, less likely to say something deep or droll, more likely to have been
disposed of by the end of the film. This not only creates a negative archetype for Black actors,
but it also puts what roles the Black actors do get as secondary or very unimportant to the main
plot.
This involuntary resignation with our own race is a large reason why racism is embedded
in popular culture. According to a statistic Williams says, Last week the Economist published a
chart showing the number of black Oscar winners over time to have been pretty much in line
with the size of Americas overall black population. This shows the disparity between the
minority entertainers and the White superiority that dominates Hollywood.
While the Civil Rights Movement resulted in integration of Blacks and Whites, and many
strides have been taken thus far to make society as equal as possible, there still underlies the
White superiority complex: One race is cast in a supporting and therefore subservient role to the
other, and this is oppressive in a way that all the representation in the world couldnt address.
You could have 20 black actors in a film all playing valets, and you would merely underline an

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idea of white superiority (Williams). Here, Williams uses ethos through a negative tone of
words to appeal to the anger felt worldwide. Williams provided the argument that Hollywood is
racist and greed in an underlying cause of that. This is exactly what my research will validate or
disprove. I side with Williams and her perspectives offered. However, I want to research these
groups Williams discusses more in depth. I will be analyzing three groups throughout my
research: Black Actors, White Actors, and Females. I will research the collective female opinion
on this, because the women of Hollywood fall victim to the sorority racism as well. Therefore,
whether the female is White, Black, Latina, Etc, they will have suffered or succeeded from the
discrimination in the industry. I will also be analyzing the opinions and scholarly works of Black
and White Actors. I am using these three groups as my study cases, because they cover the most
expanse amount of people for this project as possible. An expanse amount of people in which I
can gather research to answer: Is Hollywood Racist Still in the Milennial Era of 2016?
In conclusion, the entire article could be considered an assumption. What constitutes as
racism is opinionated, in my opinion. Someone might take something as racist that another
person may not. The author of this article claims that Hollywood is in fact racist due to greed.
Hollywood casts entertainers and actors based on the bankability and how much the company
knows they can make off of one actor over another. This bankability concept has led to the
severity of the sorority or selective racism everyone sees occurring day-to-day in Hollywood.
Williams has a negative tone and uses ethos appeals and deductive reasoning as her main
strategies for persuading. I will be using this article in favor of backing up my research project
and TED talk, and the three perspectives are from the Black Actors, White Actors, and Female
Actresses of Hollywood. I will use this article to support my claim: Yes, Hollywood is Racist.

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They are racist as a by-product of greed, despite the American generation continuously making
strides towards racial equality.
Works Cited
Williams, Zoe. The Oscars Whiteout Is Driven by Racism and Greed. Guardian
Newspapers Ltd. 24 January 2016. Web. 2 March 2016.