Title: Has ‘Diversity’ Lost Its Meaning? - The New York Times
Headings: Has ‘Diversity’ Lost Its Meaning?
Has ‘Diversity’ Lost Its Meaning?
Content: In the season premiere of his HBO reality series ‘‘Project Greenlight,’’ Matt Damon explained — to a veteran African-American producer, Effie Brown — that focusing on diversity in the casting of a film was more important than promoting diversity among those working behind the camera. It was a striking example not just of mansplaining but also of whitesplaining. His implication — roundly criticized on social media and in industry publications — is that on-screen visibility is everything, when what Hollywood needs just as much, if not more, are black studio executives, writers, directors and producers: the people who decide what stories are told in the first place. Maybe it’s not surprising that just a month later, the African-American director Ava DuVernay made the opposite argument of Damon’s at the Elle Women in Hollywood Awards. DuVernay, who made ‘‘Selma,’’ pointed out that of the 100 top-grossing films last year, only two were directed by women. She urged constant vigilance and proactive searching within the industry: ‘‘ We have to ask our agents about that script by the woman screenwriter. We have to ask, ‘Hey, are there any women agents here that I could talk to?’ We have to ask our lawyers about women in the office.