Racism is defined as a belief that a precise race is substandard or greater to another and these are individual’s inborn biological characters predetermine the social as well as moral traits of a person. Racism has existed since the beginning of history, and people become discriminated against because of the complexion, background, culture, and many other things (Rock, 2014). It has influenced slavery, the nation’s information, legal codes, and wars. Many people break into warfighting for equality since racism makes them be considered as the most useless people in society. This paper argues that Hollywood was not racist.
Hollywood did not discriminate the blacks from performing despite their background because they were good actors. In 2002, the Oscars’ awarding, which is the essential discrepancy in the business movie, occurred. That year Denzel Washington, who was a black actor, was nominated for being the best actor, just like his friend Halle Berry. This is a clear indication since if Hollywood was a racist, he could not have selected this black actor despite her best performance.
Regardless of Hollywood not being black, he showed equality by choosing the best actor from black people and showing the Africa Americans that all people are equal, and this prevented war. Many people have been involved in the warfighting for their rights and equality. Some actors such as Denzel, Sidney Poitier, and other blacks received the award, and this marked the begging of changes. “Whereas Washington’s win was the first for a black actor since 1964 when Sidney Poitier had won this award, it seemed to become a turning point for African Americans (Rock, 2014).” Many things many bring changes to the nation, society, family, or even an individual’s life, and these changes remain permanent hence leading to a bright future.
It was not easy for Washington to win the award due to Russel Crowe, who was his opponent and the one who had won the award a year before. After the announcements, nobody believed it, and every person who was in the Kodak theater stood to applaud for him for winning his category. Before this, blacks were treated differently and were considered inferior people, but during this performance, everything changed, and Hollywood was no longer viewed as racist.
Another thing that shows that Hollywood is not a racist is that even when a woman actress won the award, he did not refuse, but he granted her what she deserved. “Halle Berry won the award for Best Actress in a Leading Role, and, consequently, she became the first black woman to win this honor (Rock, 2014).” This showed the equality that was observed by Hollywood during the performance, and he was fare enough to consider both genders as equal and awarding them equally. Sometimes, women face rejection in such performance and this limits them from showing their talents. Many women with potential in society have remained silent because they are seen as minor people, and this has restricted them from using their ability. By awarding the actress, it showed that men and women were equal, and everybody should know he granted deserved rights.
Various people were assigned leading roles, and this showed a lack of discrimination in Hollywood. “It doesn’t seem like African Americans were discriminated by Hollywood because actors like Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington – as mentioned above – or, even much earlier, Sidney Poitier has received leading roles (Rock, 2014)” Not every person was eligible for leadership, but because of the changes that took place after the awarding of the best actor, it showed that every person, regardless of the region or the society, had the power to lead provide that the person is an actor or the actress.
Some people received several roles. “The latter, for instance, received a great number of roles; many of them were leading roles as in Lilies of the Field,” and this showed that the roles were being assigned depending on the work and not the background of the individual (Rock, 2014). There were several roles for the Black people that were existing in the film, but they were primarily depicted by the white people and this hindered African Americans from getting their roles. For their roles to be released by the white people, blacks were involved in a war to stand against the way they were being treated and for them to be assigned their roles. In the film, male actors were used to playing callous, urban criminals, brutal, and drug-dealing, among others, but even if there were no functional roles, at least they had hope that they were being considered and things will change for the best.
Hollywood showed respect to blacks after assigning them different roles in movies for several diverse charterer’s types to be portrayed by blacks. “Conspicuously, most of the characters blacks were allowed to portray had stereotypical features (Rock, 2014)”. After approaching the turning point, the blacks were assigned some roles to play in the film they some of them acted as helpers in white families hence showing that they were slaves in white families. “Other instances of stereotypes are athletes who switched from sports to the movie business, and who mainly portray the types of characters they are in reality instead of being allowed to demonstrate their acting skills.” Being assigned some roles to play showed that there was some hope of light future and changes in the life that blacks used to live with white people.
In conclusion, the above acts show that Hollywood was not a racist, though, in some parts, he did not act equally between the whites and blacks. Being considered as the best actors in the movie, made several blacks to be recognized any they felt a sense of belonging. In most cases, it becomes so discouraging when performing an act in a movie, and nobody recognizes your effort. In the film, Hollywood acted reasonably by awarding both genders and considering their performance without discrimination and assigning black the roles that they deserved.
