• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Bill Mumy dismissed as a member of the Motion Picture Academy

Shaka Zulu

Shaka Zulu

Commodore
Commodore
Yes, it happened, all due to the fall out over recent events about diversity at the Oscars:

'Lost in Space' Star, Bill Mumy: Dismissed as Oscar Voter, With New Diversity Rules

I'm sad to see this happen to him and to others, but on the other hand, I can see why the outcry over Will Smith and Idris Elba not getting nominated (as well as [probably] past incidents over nominations for animated movies like The Tale of Princess Kayuga and Song of The Sea, plus Do The Right Thing and Malcolm X not getting nominated, as well as the documentary Hoop Dreams) has resulted in this happening now this year.

Anyone else have thoughts on this?

Any apologies if this news has already been posted
 
I'm boycotting the Oscars this year. I didnt want it to come to this but hopefully, my absence will shock the academy into taking action.
 
The whole thing is a huge, homemade clusterfuck on both sides. The Academy sure has an outdated model given the composition of the voters certainly which is very much skewed to male, old and white dudes so there has to be a change or at least a modernization.

However if you look at realistic numbers and averages read the following article:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2016/01/film-and-race

For me it rather sounds like a bruised ego that Jada Pinkett Smit's husband, Will Smith, didn't get nominated (haven't seen the movie but Will Smith is a brilliant actor so i'm sure he would have qualified) so she raised a public outcry by playing the race card and since white people are treading on very thin ice when they decide to counterargue the race card it has become this big issue. I fully agree with Mumy's letter and it's not ok that such a veteran actor is now pushed out due to a controvery he had nothing to do with and is just out of luck.

It seems the US' struggle with racism has finally reached beyond just their movies and hit them at the core, justified or not, and it'll be interesting to see what will change in the years to come.
 
FPAlpha said:
For me it rather sounds like a bruised ego that Jada Pinkett Smit's husband, Will Smith, didn't get nominated (haven't seen the movie but Will Smith is a brilliant actor so i'm sure he would have qualified) so she raised a public outcry by playing the race card ...
Click to expand...
No, I don't think so. It's not just Will Smith, not a single black man or woman has been nominated in any of the major categories, not for acting, directing or writing, it's pretty much a white people event. And it was the same last year.

And no disrespect to Bill Mumy, I'm sure he's a nice guy but removing him is a good thing! Has he done any significant acting in a theatrical movie in the last decades? I could be wrong but he did most of his theatrical roles as a child and he's most famous for his tv work! Personally I see no reason why he should be an academy member and I bet there a hundreds like him. People who haven't been relevant in the industry in a long time should be removed.
 
Didn't 12 Years a Slave completely dominate the oscars a few years ago? This whole thing is ridiculous.

If anyone hasn't read Stephen Furst's memo to the academy that was on Variety a few days ago, it's well worth the read.
 
I have a decades old moratorium on all awards shows. They're just so mind-numbingly dull. And they've never nominated me for anything. :lol:

An old Groucho Marx line comes to mind (paraphrased): "I'd never belong to a club that would have me as a member."
 
I want to add:

Some have also noticed that films that are about slavery or a period piece where a black individual is in a subservient role are usually the ones nominated and where the actor or actress usually gets an award. I think Taraji B. Henson made a crack when she won a Golden Globe this year for her role on "Empire" saying that she won an award for portraying a former criminal on television; Denzel Washington would win for playing the corrupt cop in "Training Day" but snubbed for everything else...particularly "Malcolm X"..."The Hurricane"..."Flight".....

Interestingly, there is some buzz (at least to my knowledge) about the period slave pic "The Birth of a Nation" (not to be confused with the D.W. Griffith picture "A Birth of a Nation")directed by actor Nate Parker....(not to be confused with the character he portrays in the film Nat Turner).

At the same time, I do want to see people of color, particularly black people, making a 'diverse' catalog of movies in various genres. Films that talk to everyone not only in the US....but in Africa...Europe...Asia.
 
I think the bias lies on the side of casting and funding more than on the side of voting.

Black directors get less funding, black actors either get action film roles or get cast as victims.

The academy should be more diverse but make it that way by adding diversity. Not by penalizing long standing members.

My problem with the Oscars is they focus too much on issue films and period pieces and not enough on contemplative cinema.
 
Just a thought. How about expanding the list of nominees of best actor or whatever from 5 to 7 or 8?
With more entries per category, the better chance minorities will be nominated.
 
OK, I have to admit, this statement confounds me:

Bill Mumy said:
The nomination process is not racist. Surely you realize that members of the Academy don't get together in clandestine meetings to discuss who they're going to nominate or not nominate.
Click to expand...

Just because there's no collusion or conspiracy does not mean there's no racism involved. Sadly, people are quite capable of being racist all on their own.
 
Wait, why does Bill Mumy have to be dismissed in order to make the Academy more diverse? That makes no sense whatsoever.
 
How can they not take the guy who wrote Fish Heads seriously?

:shrug:

I'm sure it stings, but the statistics cited (94% white and 77% male) for the Academy voters are profoundly out of sync with the actual population.
 
Emh said:
Wait, why does Bill Mumy have to be dismissed in order to make the Academy more diverse? That makes no sense whatsoever.
Click to expand...
Because they probably don't want to expand the number of members too much.

And let's be honest, getting rid of retired people and or has beens is not a bad thing.
In theory the academy should vote for their peers, in that case Mumy's category should be "Best third rate guest at sci-fi conventions".
 
1001001 said:
I'm sure it stings, but the statistics cited (94% white and 77% male) for the Academy voters are profoundly out of sync with the actual population.
Click to expand...

I have been to a handful of Academy membership screenings (not a member), and can attest to those statistics being accurate. The membership is also very old (the median age Is supposedly 62; if anything, it seemed older at the events I attended!).
 
I don't think the median age is a problem. The median age of people old enough to be established actors is not much lower than 62. And I strongly disagree that you magically lose your ability to judge movie quality because you haven't worked a lot lately.

The racial and gender distribution is more of a problem. Though I question this idea that if there were more diversity suddenly populist crowd pleasers with minority leads would start winning. And if you want to find the real null hypothesis you need to gauge actual interest levels across races and genders. Just because you won't find many boys at a Justin Bieber concert doesn't mean the ticket sellers are sexist.

If I want to find a real measure of artistic quality I'll read the Sight & Sound poll.
 
Takeru said:
Because they probably don't want to expand the number of members too much.
Click to expand...
But why wouldn't they want to do that? Is there some great imaginary restriction that the organization doesn't want to strain? How is simply adding more hurting anything? All I see is a way to quickly change percentages.

Takeru said:
And let's be honest, getting rid of retired people and or has beens is not a bad thing.
In theory the academy should vote for their peers, in that case Mumy's category should be "Best third rate guest at sci-fi conventions".
Click to expand...
As the article mentioned, Mumy has been a long-term member. Why should they give him the boot simply because he's a "third rate guest star at sci-fi conventions"?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top