Are the Oscars biased?

http://news.bbc.co.uk

The Academy Awards are this Sunday so naturally, predictions for who the winners will be are posted all over the web. BBC News Magazine just posted an article about past Oscar winners’ stats and came up with some interesting figures. According to the article, the Academy tends to favor American actors (compared to British nominees). Also the BBC states that 93% of male winners have been white. Female winners tend to be younger than their male counterparts and according to the article, nearly half of the actresses won for a romantic film role. Obviously this is not a scientific study nor a truly valid analysis, but it does lead to some serious questions about the politics of the film industry, the lack of diversity among the winners and recognition for actors of color. And personally I just find that illustration and its numbers a little creepy.

3/8/2010 edited to add: Best Actor went to Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart) and Best Actress went to Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side). I’m not an Oscar follower but after reading the BBC article I was interested in seeing who would win. Unfortunately, the winners fit pretty well with the BBC’s “predictions.” But, congrats to Kathryn Bigelow for being the first ever female Best Director. It took this long for a woman to win Best Director? Sad.