And the Oscar goes to…
This Sunday millions will watch as the Oscars are handed out for the eighty-second time. I will probably watch, although I find the choice of hosting duo Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin a dubious one. Couldn’t they let Steve handle it alone? I miss Billy Crystal and his musical monologue.
An article in the New York Times suggested that Oscar is due for another change. Author Kim Elsesser asks why, after all this time men and women are not allowed to compete against each other for the Best Actor Oscar? We’ve done away with the term “actress” for the most part but on Oscar night, the divide remains.
She writes:
Since the first Academy Awards ceremony in 1929, separate acting Oscars have been presented to men and women. Women at that time had only recently won the right to vote and were still several decades away from equal rights outside the voting booth, so perhaps it was reasonable to offer them their own acting awards. But in the 21st century women contend with men for titles ranging from the American president to the American Idol. Clearly, there is no reason to still segregate acting Oscars by sex.
It’s certainly an interesting idea, but what struck me most about her comment was that I had genuinely never thought about it before. I did not even notice that the Oscars were gender-split. I wonder if that’s a good sign or a bad one? You don’t have to look far beyond our own borders to see that women in North America have it pretty good. Yes, there are still places where things are unfair. But in North America no one is altering our bodies without our consent, or forcing us into unwanted marriages or telling us we can’t leave the house.
It’s interesting to think that in the midst of so much positive change, there are still splits that have stood for so long we don’t even see them. The Best Director category is not gender-specific, nor are any of the technical Oscars, where admittedly there are more men than women in the field. What are the messages hiding behind our attempts to be inclusive? Elsesser goes on to say that “separate is not equal” which is true, but equal is not always fair. So here’s one more question for your Oscar ballot: do you think the Oscars should be gender-blind?
How do you define yourself? Try our interactive Life Lesson What’s in Your Bag? for an intriguing look at the way we tell our own stories.
Image courtesy of Jeroen Miedema . Used with permission. You can see more of Jeron’s photos on Flickr.
Tags: Culture, Discover, equality, Experience, identity, Men, Movies, Oscars, Women, women's rights
3 Responses to “And the Oscar goes to…”
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I find it fascinating that this issue of gender splitting has not hit the media before. I’m all for awarding the most talented actors without gender-splitting. It seems incredibly out-dated.
There are many more actresses and actors involved than directors so I’ve got a feeling that there would be a bit of trouble taking away two awards (leading and supporting) and combining the 20 nominees into 10. Would there have to be a quota (men/women) or would it based on who deserves the award. What if there were 9 men and 1 woman one year?
I haven’t watched any of the films so I can’t say who would win any of the awards in my mind but I question the implementation of getting rid of 2 awards.
Personally, I don’t have a problem with the separate best actor award. Men and woman often perform differently. I have lots of experience in the music judging, and I believe judging the men and women together would be a lot like trying to judge the flutist’s classical piece with the saxaphone’s blues piece. Both could be equally as good but the different aspects and skills that judges look for could be completely different. I see it much the same as actors and actresses. Both can be equally as good but it would just be tough to judge them together.
But again, I’m not completely against the idea either. It’s a good way for the actresses to show up the actors :) Perhaps the Oscars would be willing to make up a completely new award for the top actor/actress of all? The ultimate award.
What do you guys think?