12 Oscar -winning films that are offensive according to today's standards

Some of these films acclaimed by criticism are more recent than you think.


Over the years, the Oscars faced a criticism attack on racism and representation with regard to candidates. The Washington Post A chronic the lack of the Oscars of racial diversity , which remains a subject of discussion in 2024. It has been more than 20 years for Halle Berry Picked up the trophy for the best actress, and she is always the only black woman to have done so. This year, the public is in arms on snobs to Barbie head woman Margot Robbie and director Greta Gerwig . But in addition to lacking representation among nominees, the Academy has also awarded problematic films throughout its 96 years of history. And although they may not be recognized as offensive at the time, there are several which are not up to today's standards. Read the rest to discover 12 Oscar winners are now considered offensive.

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1
Accident (2005)

Thandiwe Newton and Matt Dillon in Crash
Lionsgate films

One of the winners of the best most notable films is 2005 Accident . The film is a representation of racial relations in Los Angeles, with big names like Thandiwe Newton ,, Matt Dillon ,, Don cheadle , And Sandra Bullock . It was Originally rented To be progressive, but the film has aged badly, some say. Co-written and produced by Paul Haggis , of Baby of a million dollars fame, Accident is now criticized for the stereotypes it represents and the way it calls on "white guilt".

"If anything, Accident is too delicate - so heavy that, during her race for almost two hours, the story she tries to tell barely more important " TIRHAKAH Love wrote for the level in 2020, Think about the movie 15 years after his release. "The ease with which Haggis stereotype and plans his characters speak to the most paranoid sensitivities of the Americans."

While the film had a range of "representation on the screen", which was new for 2005, LOVE underlines that only white characters evolve. A key example would be the character of Dillon, the officer Ryan, who can put aside his racist attitude to save the character of Newton after a car accident.

"" Accident Lays the burden of [cultural] harmony on non -white and - more violently - on black women, "love wrote." This can reflect life in the most brutal way, but against the hard time are the exact opposite of the progressive "Kumbaya" that he was supposed to be.

2
T he good land (1938)

still from the good earth
Hulton Archive / Getty Images

We have traveled a long way since 1938, when this controversial film was celebrated at the 10th Oscars. Good land was standing for five oscars, with Luise Rainer Sharing the best actress's trophy for her leading role in O-Lan. The film was based on Pearl S. Buck's Award -winning novel Pulitzer On a group of farmers in China. However, Rainer is not Chinese, and his co-star either Paul Muni .

Performance is a " Classic example of Yellowface , " Vanity Remember. On a sadder note, the role could have gone to the Chinese-American actor Anna May Wong , which has done several screen tests. MGM producer Albert Lewin , which threw the film, wrote that although Wong "deserves consideration", it "does not seem beautiful enough" to play the role. Instead, he was offered the role of the courtesan Lotus, who plays in another stereotype, by Vanity .

"I will be happy to take the test, but I will not play the role," Wong said to MGM at the time. "If you let me play O -Lan, I will be very happy. But you ask me - with Chinese blood - to make the only antipathetic role in the photo, with an American distribution representing Chinese characters."

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3
American beauty (1999)

mena suvari in american beauty
DreamWorks Pictures

In 2000, American beauty marked five Oscar wins, including the best film. The film follows the average father Lester Burnham, played by Kevin Spacey , while he rushes and obsessed with regard to his teenage daughter ( Birch ) Friend Angela ( MENA SUVARI ).

Although the character of Suvari is considered confident and sexually aware, there is a clear imbalance of power. Although Lester does not end up having sex with the Angela minor, it is completely thrown aside and is ultimately a "vehicle" to facilitate a revelation of Lester's quarantine crisis , according to a criticism from Screen Queens.

This situation becomes even more disconcerting given the real allegations Against Spacey, which in 2017, was accused for the first time of having made sexual advances against the actor Anthony Rapp When he was 14 years old. As People Reported, Spacey said he did not remember the meeting but had offered his apologies. After subsequent allegations of sexual misconduct was leveled against the actor, his representative said that he was looking for treatment, by People . In July 2023, a jury in England Spacey acquitted Nine accusations against him, including seven chiefs of sexual assault.

For its part, Suvari spoke of its representation American beauty During an interview in July 2022 with The Guardian , stressing that she knew she was there to be attractive.

"I identified myself with Angela. I knew how to play this role, because I was so educated in it." Oh, you want me to be Sexually attractive ? Done, "she said at the exit." I felt unavailable in another way, but I knew how to play this card. ""

4
Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

jared leto in dallas buyers club
Development features

While Dallas Buyers Club did not bring the best photo home, Jared Leto won the best support actor for his radius representation in the 2013 film. Even at the time, Leto taking the role was considered controversial by many - as he played a transgender woman , while being a cisgenre man himself.

Some criticisms said that even if Leto's performance was "worthy of an Oscar", the role should have been offered to a trans actor . The problem has been the subject of multiple studies on stereotypes and representations of sex communities In consumer films.

Similar discussions surfaced around 1991 the best winner in the film Thesilenceofthelambs , which has long been accused of transphobia due to the obsession of Buffalo Bill to keep and wear the clothes of his victim of his wife. While the film tries to emphasize this Buffalo Bill is not transgender —The Lecter hannical says it - the criticisms have noted that the representation and the association in the mind of the public are what matters, by Vox.

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5
Wind (1939)

hattie mcdaniel and vivien leigh in gone with the wind
MGM

Although this is one of the most emblematic films of all time, Wind is also often considered one of the most problematic. The 1939 film won eight Oscars, including the best film and the best support actress for Hattie McDaniel - who has become the first winner of black Oscars, by The New York Times . These days, however, the film is strongly criticized for its romanticization of the Southern Antbellum and for the representations that many consider racist.

The film was available to broadcast on HBO Max in 2020, but it was withdrawn in June after the critics expressed their opposition. John Ridley , who won the best scenario suitable for 12 years of slavery In 2014, called for deletion in a Los Angeles Times OP-ED, arguing that "when it is not Ignore the horrors of slavery , [The film] only pauses to perpetuate some of the most painful stereotypes of people of color. ""

Ridley also stressed that there was no warning for the film, that HBO Max added when he reintroduced the film on the platform a few weeks later. The streamer has also included two videos described Wind "Historical context", " The Guardian reported.

6
Slumdog millionaire (2008)

slumdog millionaire
Pathé distribution

Rags-to-Riches Slumdog millionaire follows a young Indian named Jamal ( Dev Patel ) While he is a competitor Who Wants to Be a Millionaire . In a little cinematographic magic, each question asked him concerns his own life experiences, which are then shown in flashbacks. Everyone loves a story of oppressed, so the public loved the film at the time, but even then, it had its fair share of detractors, and its reputation has not improved since.

In a 2018 play for the agitation, writer Soham Gadre noted that the film was Not well received in India , where he is settled, and he was criticized for having exploited "poor districts" in the country.

"Of course, this film is popular in America, they love to watch poverty in other countries," said Gadre his father saying after watching the film.

Gadre, an Indian who grew up in the United States, also stressed that if the film was "vaguely based" Q&R , a novel by the Indian author Vikas Swarup , the script was written by the white screenwriter Simon Beautiful and produced by the white filmmaker Danny Boyle . Gadre has accused the two men of having created a "third world amusement park" for viewers and playing poverty "for a dramatic effect".

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7
Ugly (2011)

octavia spencer and viola davis in the help
Walt Disney Studios movies

When Ugly struck theaters in 2011, lovers of Kathryn Stockett Book of the same name faded in cinema To see the 1960s, Jackson, Mississippi, brought to life. NPR made his pleasure " sting , "Fortunately stamped by the performance of the overall distribution - in particular Octavia Spencer , who won the best support actress Oscar for her role as Spitfire Maid Minny Jackson.

In 2020, the film had a resurgence, with many well -intentioned Streaming viewers Ugly On Netflix in the middle of the Black Lives Matter movement, USA today reported. While many of these viewers thought that the film was educational, the critics stressed that the book was written by a white woman, the film was directed by a white man, and overall, the film is most concentrated On the prospects of white characters.

"Not to say that the film is not entertaining and can have other advantages, but if I had to choose a film that helps us to understand where [blacks] are today and what problems we face, It would not be the one I choose, " Darnell Hunt , Director of Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies of the UCLA, told USA today. "One of the problems with films like Ugly is that they are safely settled in the distant past which leaves the present out of the hook. It is almost as if: "Oh my God, see how horrible things were at the time and look how far we came today." Which, of course, is not true. ""

Viola Davis , who played as Aibileen Clark and obtained an Oscar appointment for the best actress, even said that she regretted being part of the film.

"I have already done roles that I regretted ? I have, and Ugly is on this list, "she said The New York Times In 2018. Davis continued explaining that his feelings had nothing to do with his experience on the set or the distribution and the team, but with the characters in the film.

"I thought that at the end of the day, it was not the voice of maid," she said. "I know Aibileen. I know Minny. They are my grandmother. They are my mother. And I know that if you make a film where the whole premise is, I want to know what it does to work for whites and To raise children in 1963, I want to hear what you really think. I have never heard that during the film. "

8
Cimarron (1931)

irene dunne and richard dix in cimarron
RKO Radio Pictures

Cimarron brought back the Oscar for the best film (then known as the exceptional production) in 1931, which makes it the first Western film to do so. The film has certainly provided an escape While the great depression tormented the American population, according to Collider, but these days, its representation of blacks and indigenous peoples would not fly.

Based on Edna Ferber novel of the same name, the film represents clear racism Towards blacks, according to a magazine by Worthy Podcast. The character of Isaiah ( Eugene Jackson ) takes its weight, because it is often used as a comic relief and associated with racial stereotypes. In terms of representation of indigenous peoples, the film also uses insults that Strengthen stereotypes The natives are wild and "incapable of civilization", Jonathan Perez Underlined in a 2010 review. In addition, the native characters are played by white actors.

Perez noted that even if the film is intended to promote equality - the main character, Yancey Cravat ( Glenn Ford ), "Accept everyone" - it is difficult for this message to fall on racist nuances.

"I think that in 1931, the filmmakers wanted to do justice to the novel by Edna Ferber, but there is a reason why when the books are transformed into a film, this is called an adaptation," wrote Perez. "In the end, I think Cimarron is better considered a window on the attitudes of filmmakers in 1931, rather than a classic that will lose forever."

9
Green paper (2018)

viggo mortensen and mahershala ali in green book
Universal images

The film and winner of the best film 2018 Green paper has not really "aged" because he is a fairly recent winner. However, the film sparked major criticism when it was released - and a little more than five years later, it is a little more difficult to imagine that it wins the same recognition.

The film follows the black concert pianist Don Shirley ( Mahershala Ali ) And its driver and bodyguard Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga ( Viggo Mortensen ) While they were traveling in the deep south in 1962. While the co-series (and Tony's real son) Nick Vallelonga said the film was to be on friendship And people gathered, others disputed Green paper , calling a white savior film.

Instead of focusing on The Nègre Automobilist Green Paper , the guide for black travelers that the film was named, the film " Racism with a spoon In white, " Monique judge asserted in a review for the root.

"I continue to go around the racism of Lip because it confuses me that in 2018 Hollywood is still in the field not only humanize racists But let racists like lips tell stories about blacks, " Brooke Obie wrote in a criticism of Blavity. "Because Green Book It's not just Dr. Shirley through Lip's eyes. These are also daily and non -productive blacks that Lip and Dr. Shirley meet on their trip. ""

However, in his review, Judge argued that the film "was always worth seeing for everyone", especially for performances, which earned Ali the victory of the best support actor.

"" Green paper is not there to teach lessons. This is not to end racism. This is not there to increase the guilt of whites, "wrote the judge." It is worth seeing for those (white) who may need a primer on racism. It is worth seeing just for Mahershala Ali. It is worth seeing for the great hard act of Viggo Mortensen. It is worth seeing because nothing has changed. Like Mahershala Ali told me when I interviewed him about the film, "discrimination is much smarter now".

10
Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

george peppard and audrey hepburn in breakfast at tiffany's
Paramount pictures

Although it is a classic beloved by generations of Rom-Com fans, Breakfast at Tiffany's- which was nominated for five Oscars and won two - would probably have had some changes if it was made today. AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

"Romantic comedy is problematic in that it reflects harmful societal prejudice which were widespread in the 60s" " Lauren Koong written in a 2023 Critique from the film. "Although we can recognize that it is a product of your time, it is almost impossible to go beyond these biases if we continue to place this film on a pedestal."

She underlines "racism and discriminatory stereotypes of that time", especially through Holly Golightly ( Audrey Hepburn ) neighbor, i.y. Yunioshi, who was represented by a white actor Mickey Rooney in yellow makeup.

"His character is made to be comic relief, but comedy is at the expense of his race - he speaks with a heavy accent and uses exaggerated facial expressions," wrote Koong. "This illustrates how little Hollywood had little for authentic representations of people of color. Not only does this representation strengthen negative stereotypes, but it is also dehumanizing, as Yunioshi becomes a caricature."

Koong also highlights the gender roles in the film, while Holly ends up "falling into his neighbor's arms" rather than standing on his two feet.

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11
The blind side (2009)

quinton aaron and sandra bullock in the blind side
Photos of Warner Bros.

When The blind side was released for the first time, Sandra Bullock was rented by criticisms for her performance by the southern mother of nonsense Leigh Ann Tuohy , for which she caught the Academy Award for best actress. However, this is another film that criticisms put in the category "white Savior".

The film follows Michael Oher ( Quinton Aaron ), which is adopted by the Tuohy family before becoming a star football player.

"Everything on T The blind side gives the impression that did not have the opportunity Without the Tuohys and, when they undeniably contributed to his success, he was not useless without them. "" Alicia Adejobi wrote in an opinion article in 2023 for Metro . "It's almost as if the character was stupid to raise the Tuohys."

Adejobi also highlighted stereotypes on Michael's history, especially when he will see his biological mother and "meets a violent black gang". As Adejobi said, the scene painted "blacks in a bad day to justify why living with the white family was the best choice".

Although it had to be a true story of well-being, the real situation became a little more tangled last year. In August 2023, Oher has filed a prosecution Against Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, alleging that they had filed a guardianship which kept millions of dollars - and never really adopted it. The Tuohys vehemently denied the allegations and said that Oher had tried to extort $ 15 million.

12
Swing Time (1936)

fred astaire and ginger rogers in swing time
RKO Radio Pictures

Overall, the best music of 1937 and the best winner of the original song Swing time Do not create too much problem, but a problematic scene would not be good with modern viewers.

In a tribute to a black noise dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson , the character of John "Lucky" Garnett ( Fred Astute ), Blackface donations. Consequently, the scene "falls on the chouche and unnecessarily racist , " Kevin O'Rourke wrote in an article for the Michigan quarterly review .

"We could argue that the performance of the black surface of the thirties and the forties (and earlier) are so far in the past and a product of their time beyond the judgment, but I would not be 'Agreement, "continued O'Rourke. "I prefer that artists' assessments are done with the knowledge of their warts and everything."

O'Rourke also noted that he had been "raised on" Fred Astaire and specifically appreciated his films with Rogers ginger , this is what makes the Blackface scene in Swing time "Personally overwhelming and intellectually perplexed."

"The Blackface Astaire Porte is such an incredible disappointment, and because - as if we learn our heroes - it complicates the vision of Astaire as a great and largely loved star of the scene and the film whose millions of people in dance, [Astaire] were certainly these things, but he also participated and perpetuated a harmful tradition of racist mestrels, "wrote O'Rourke. "The Astaire Blackface carries in time of swing, whatever his intentions or the time he wore it, Mars, and will continue to Mar, his inheritance."

As Wind And Breakfast at Tiffany's ,, Swing time was part of an effort in 2021 by Turner Classic Films (TCM) entitled " Classic cropped "The purpose of the series was to discuss films with problematic elements rather than reject them immediately and cancel them as a whole.

"We know that millions of people like these films," TCM host Jacqueline Stewart said to New York Post . "We don't say" that's what you should feel Psycho , or "that's what you should feel Wind . We just try to model ways of having longer and deeper conversations and not just to cut it to "I like this film". "I hate this film. There is so much space between the two. ""

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