The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released its nominations for its awards today, and the first thing that jumped out at observers was that every acting nominee was white. The second thing observers noticed was that “Selma” was nominated for Best Picture but its director was left off the nomination list for Best Director.

And there was much gnashing of teeth.

But look. According to an LA Times survey done three years ago, the membership is primarily aging white men.

A Los Angeles Times study found that academy voters are markedly less diverse than the moviegoing public, and even more monolithic than many in the film industry may suspect. Oscar voters are nearly 94% Caucasian and 77% male, The Times found. Blacks are about 2% of the academy, and Latinos are less than 2%.

Oscar voters have a median age of 62, the study showed. People younger than 50 constitute just 14% of the membership.

[snip]

The academy is primarily a group of working professionals, and nearly 50% of the academy’s actors have appeared on screen in the last two years. But membership is generally for life, and hundreds of academy voters haven’t worked on a movie in decades.

Given those realities, maybe it was a miracle last year that 12 Years a Slave won best picture, and no surprise that Selma was off the acting radar.