As of today, PC at the Academy Awards has become a genuine problem and a genuine threat to artistic freedom. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, to give it its full name, has announced that movies hoping to compete in the Best Picture category will, from 2024, have to conform to certain ‘criteria’. They will need to be sufficiently ‘diverse’ before the Academy will consider them. This is properly shocking. It smacks of identitarian McCarthyism. In a bid to boost representation and inclusion at the Oscars — the only two buzzwords that matter in the 21st century — the Academy says that only movies that include a desirable number of people from various ethnic and social groups will be considered for the film of the year award. The ‘diverse’ groups that must be included are women, people of colour, LGBTQ people and people with disabilities. There are four categories that movie-makers will now have to consider if they ever want a chance of getting the Best Pic gong. These are on-screen acting and storylines, creative leadership positions and crew composition, paid apprenticeships and internships, and audience development. In at least two of these categories the movie will have to include an Academy-decreed percentage of people from diverse backgrounds or it can kiss goodbye to Best Picture.