http://www.nbclosangeles.com/entertainment/movies/Vanity-Fairs-Hollywood-is-Skinny-White-Female-83464507.html

She makes the point that for LOTS and LOTS of Americans, there aren’t art-house theatres available, and the Oscars can make these viewers feel like the movies they went to see, loved, hated, and discussed just didn’t make the cut–thus making the Academy Awards an exclusive affair. That’s totally true for most of my region, so I really appreciated her take on it, since I’ve been pretty skeptical of the expansion.

On a nitpicking note: Since she’s from Spain, I’m going to guess that Penelope Cruz is actually Caucasian, which isn’t mutually exclusive with Hispanic (I’m familiar with this because I’m a white-tino too, and I’m always confused about which damn box to check). But in any case, I agree that it adds to the diversity of the contenders, which (as Mark argued in his response) is a good indication of progress, and not the end of the road.

However, it would be equally short-sighted to say that this pool of directors means nothing. If we’re interested in an American cinema that makes room for more prominent voices of color and more prominent female voices, then we can take this year’s best director pool as a good sign. Is everything balanced now? No. But is this a good day for minority voices in American film? Yes. Absolutely yes. Let’s not completely disregard the moment just because it’s not single-handedly changing everything. Personally, I prefer to hope that this will be step one of a long, satisfying process.

I ground that optimism in the reality of the acting categories. When Denzel Washington and Halle Berry won in 2002, it was a landmark year, and since then, there have been more acting nominations (and wins) for actors of color than in any other decade. Are actors of color now receiving unfettered opportunity? No. But does their situation seem to be improving? Yes. The culture of American film is creating more excellent roles for actors of color than it was before.

Now, I’m not saying the Oscar wins for Berry and Washington kicked down the doors all by themselves, but I do think they make a useful touchstone for an era when the larger culture of American film started opening up a little for minority actors. And maybe the 2010 Academy Awards will be seen as the same kind of touchstone for female and minority directors. Again, we can’t say that’s absolutely what will happen, but I’d argue it’s perfectly valid to look at this morning’s announcement with a clear-eyed sense of excitement.