Can an industry nerd help me understand something about the Will Smith thing?
Let me preface this by saying I'm not trying to start yet another conversation about what's right or wrong about any of this, I'm just trying to make sense of one specific element: the resignation from the Academy. What does that *mean* for someone like Will Smith? What is the material impact of Academy membership on an actor's career, and what does exclusion from the Academy *do* to him? Non-members can still be nominated for awards, right? So...what? He doesn't get to vote anymore? Does it bar him from SAG or PGA or whatever other industry-related guilds/associations he might be part of?
I know there have been ripple effects and there appears to be an impact to his involvement in upcoming projects, but it's not clear to me that this is directly tied to his Academy status or that these events wouldn't have happened if he had retained his membership. So while all of these news outlets continue to breathlessly report about his preemptive resignation without explaining why that's a big deal, can anybody here tell me how this is significant, particularly to a permanent A-lister like Smith? What is the consequence of this action?
Edit: just to be clear before anyone misinterprets, I'm neither saying that the action was too severe, nor that it was only symbolic and not actually meaningful. I am, truly, only saying here that I don't understand what significance Academy membership imparts.
