Sexism and Racism in the Film Industry

            Sexism and racism are two prominent forms of discrimination in the film industry and while progress is starting to be made more steadily by women and minorities it has not always been that way. One example of both sexism and racism is that it took from the time the Academy Awards began in 1929 until 2002 when Halle Berry became the first African American to win the award for Best Actress almost 75 years after the awards began while Sidney Poitier was the first African American to win Best Actor in 1963. While this is one example there are many others including the fact that an Asian Woman has never won the Best Actress. Only one Asian woman has ever been nominated for that category, Merle Oberon in 1935 who hid her racial background for years to avoid racism. The first American woman to be nominated for Best Director was Sofia Coppola for Lost in Translation while the first woman to win in that category was Kathryn Bigelow in 2010 for The Hurt Locker taking over 80 years for this award to be given to a woman. So although it has taken a while to get where we are progress is being made to lessen and eliminate this problem although it may never be removed completely.