Look, I re-read this man’s tweet more times than I’d care to admit, and if I’m being honest, I can’t find a single thing he said that was out of place. It seems to be that his tweets suggest that we should promote diversity based on quality and that considering diversity in matters of art hinders, undervalues and degrades the person who made the art, which makes sense.
What I understood and I’m open for criticism here, is that when creating something, whether it be art, movie or whatever, the quality of the product is what counts. I agree with him on this. I want diversity just like everyone else but I feel like the approach that some people a striving for will only hurt the credibility of those that have earned something, you get me. Here’s what he said to give you all some context:
As a writer, I am allowed to nominate in just 3 categories: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Screenplay. For me, the diversity issue–as it applies to individual actors and directors, anyway–did not come up. That said…
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) January 14, 2020
…I would never consider diversity in matters of art. Only quality. It seems to me that to do otherwise would be wrong.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) January 14, 2020
The most important thing we can do as artists and creative people is make sure everyone has the same fair shot, regardless of sex, color, or orientation. Right now such people are badly under-represented, and not only in the arts.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) January 14, 2020
You can't win awards if you're shut out of the game.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) January 14, 2020
So lets say, if a writer was nominated for Best Original Screenplay, and she happens to be a Indian woman, people today would celebrated her ethnicity, gender and nationality before celebrating her work, and likely may have voted for her based on those criteria. The Indian woman however will never know for herself if she truly deserved that award or if it was just so that the Oscar could tick of a box. That’s more damaging that people care to admit.
I think, a lot of people took his tweet and interpreted it completely differently. I get where Stephen was trying to say and yeah, the Oscar committee could do a bit better in having more representation but I feel like if a person creates something amazing, no matter what his/her background is, it should get recognized for that quality alone.
I’m glad that Stephen tweeted that comment, it’s important to have these dialogue without resulting in “trying to cancel someone” like the internet is doing now.
