Films’ Powerful Social Commentary: A Catalyst for Change Culminates in Hollywood’s Biggest Night

Awards season has wrapped for the film industry, and while it is undoubtedly the dream of many to hear his or her name called to receive the coveted golden statue (weighing in at 8.5 pounds) at the Academy Awards, the prestigious awards show also provides a forum for already acclaimed artists to draw attention to global topics they value and films they feel deserve critical recognition.

The Oscars serve as a long-standing Hollywood tradition, with this year’s ceremony – which took place on Sunday, Feb. 22 – marking its 87th anniversary. Although celebrating achievements in film is a main attraction, the lack of diversity among the nominees has caused some controversy over the years.

Rather than placing the blame upon the Academy’s praise of certain pictures and questioning why there aren’t more diverse nominees, many look to the film industry as a whole, citing that the root of the problem lies in the lack of diverse actors being cast in major on-screen roles.

Film critic and Urbana Middle School teacher Chuck Koplinski said, “This is really nothing new. This is a reflection of a lack of diversity in the Hollywood movie system, not the Academy.”

Although specific subject matter changes based on the times, the power of films remains strong enough to captivate audiences around the world.

“Films serve the same purpose as stories always have. As human beings, we have the need to share our experiences and films help us do that. Go back to the cavemen sharing their stories around a fire, drawing on cave walls and you see this sharing of stories all the way at the beginning of social interactions,” said Koplinski. “Films, however, are a more vicarious experience. The good ones transport us into the story and make us forget our troubles at least for a couple of hours. The ambitious ones attempt to deal with problems our society is dealing with, putting them under the microscope or maybe bringing them to our attention. This year’s ‘Still Alice’ is the perfect example of this.”

Koplinski continued, “I think the fact that so many of [the Oscar-nominated] movies deal with real lives … means we’re hungry to examine personal experiences. In learning about others, we learn about ourselves.”

This year’s Academy Awards also saw artists draw attention to global issues – notably Patricia Arquette’s thoughts on wage equality, Graham Moore’s comments on overcoming attempted suicide and feeling different, and Common and John Legend’s civil rights speech.

One upcoming opportunity to celebrate films locally and engage in public discourse in regards to the impact they have is the upcoming Roger Ebert Film Festival, which runs April 15-19.