The Oscars’ self-defeating identity politics

I moved to this country from the USA 30 years ago and this year I’ve finally understood why: it was to spare myself the more self-defeating elements of America’s identity politics. Last week, the Oscars announced diversity guidelines, at least some of which films will have to fulfil to be considered for an Academy Award, such as that the film must ‘centre on women, LGBTQ people, a racial or ethnic group or the disabled’. Yet nowhere in these guidelines is there acknowledgement of one of the biggest predictors of quality of life in the US and, indeed, everywhere: social class. Going by the Oscars’ new rules, the 1988 Eddie Murphy comedy about a phenomenally wealthy African prince, Coming to America, would get more points than, say, Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake. Having said that, I’d rather watch Coming to America a million times than I, Daniel Blake ever again, so perhaps the Oscars are cleverer than I appreciated.