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Danielle Driscoll
Dr. Stefan Guenzel
ENC1102H
30 March 2016
The Millenials Sorority Racism
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. Indeed, racism is still a controversial issue today, but
especially in the bright, spotlighted world of Hollywood. This problem was brought to headliners
over the racism put forth at the Oscars. In Zoe Williams popular article written for the British
newspaper, The Guardian, she provides statistics and evidence that show this discrimination.
Williams, who has credible education from Lincoln College of Oxford in the field of Modern
History, argues throughout the article that the nearly entire White audience at the Oscars was a
direct result of both greed and racism in Hollywood.
Before the article even begins, right underneath the title is the catchphrase "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
immediately shows the bias of the article before even reading it. It also connects to the title, so
now I know that this author is just as upset about the racism involved in the Oscars as the Blacks

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are. Further more, it is evident that Williams has a negative tone towards Hollywood as not only
does she find them racist, but greedy as well. Even 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 highprofile, public-facing institution could fail in such an obvious way? (in regards to the Academy
Awards).
What both I and Williams aim to do through my research project and through her article
is to explain the answer to this question. What this says to our society is that we value certain
races and even genders over others due to their bankability and how much money they can bring
in. In essence, Hollywood is not just racist against Blacks, but Latinos, Asians, and Women as
well. White actors are more bankable than say 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 phenomenon he calls racial realism. 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 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

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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. Through this chart, it
is evident that the amount of Black actors cast for movies is barely acceptable with that of
Whites. 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
idea of white superiority. When considered, we subconciously watch movies like this and dont
even recognize the racial separation of roles or casting, rather we just blindly go along with the
obvious discrimination of entertainment roles. While Williams is accurate in this statement, for
the purpose of my research project I am unable to include such words as You or any type of
bias although this is her form of appeal. She uses ethos through a negative tone of words to
appeal to the anger felt worldwide. I will also use ethos as well as fallaces and deductive
reasoning to validate this point. Williams uses deductive reasoning to conclude that since
Hollywood as an industry overall is racist, so is the Oscars and their nominations. While this is

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the argument Williams and I both try to convince our audience of, there is an opposing view to
this controversy.
Zoe did provide counterevidence to the argument by offering an opposing side on how
the Academy is in fact taking strides to make the Hollywood environment not so racially
exclusive. They plan to do this by doubling the amount of women and minorities in the Academy
by 2020. This is evidence that goes against the central argument that Hollywood is racist. Yet,
Williams says that the Academy responded quickly to the racism outrage. This immediate
response and definite promise to double the minorities of the Academy shows the Academy
knows they have been undeniably prejudice towards White entertainers. This was the only
possible positive opposing viewpoint on this subject.
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. There are others who do not think Hollywood is racist at all and in fact
there is the opposing viewpoint that Hollywood is doing things to double the diversity of the
Academys members. This alone shows that even Hollywood is undeniably admitting to their
racism. I will include information from this article as support to my scholarly articles, because
while this has a lot of good content and usage, the credibility is questionable.

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Works Cited
Williams, Zoe. The Oscars Whiteout Is Driven by Racism and Greed. Guardian
Newspapers Ltd. 24 January 2016. Web. 2 March 2016.