By AMEARA DITSCHE
Arts Editor
After #OscarsSoWhite trended, it brought attention to the lack of diversity in the Academy Awards and fans have been extra observant as to who’s nominated. This year, women seem to have been snubbed in the major categories.
In defense of the academy, some say that the purpose of the awards is to highlight good movies and not make political statements with who they choose to honor. This would be valid if there was an absence of quality films made by women or people of color, but there isn’t—and the academy recognizes it.
“Little Women” boasts six nominations, including Best Film and Best Adapted screenplay. Yet, Director Greta Gerwig was excluded from the Best Director Category. Clearly, the film was well made and critically acclaimed but Gerwig was denied a best director nomination.
The other notable woman who fans think was unfairly snubbed is actress Lupita Nyong’o. Nyong’o starred in Jordan Peele’s “Us,” a horror film released in 2019. Nyong’o delivered a stunning performance that despite your opinion of the film as a whole, deserved a nod from the academy.
“Midsommar” is another horror film that despite intense fan dedicated and critical acclaim, seems to not be worth the academy’s attention.
These films are definitely all contenders for film of the year, when considering cultural impact and audience reception two factors that should heavily influence the decision. What defines what makes something film of the year? Is it parameters and standards defined by white men 50 years ago? Despite women winning and being nominated for Oscars, they are still being excluded from the narrative as long as cinema is gate kept as an elitist art form.
The world is changing, that is not new, we have always been evolving our tastes, morals, and abilities. I can spit as much feminsit rhetoric at you as I would like but if you don’t think anything I say is valid, it won’t do much. The exclusion of women at the Oscars is not because women can make movies. Its because men think women can’t make movies, and when they do (rather successfully) men, write them off as vapid or different than what men are doing. Just like how women are told we are too emotional to hold office, or to weak to have dangerous careers, our art is written off as empty or overly emotional. When we write love stories they are reduced to “chick flick” but when we stray away from the genre, we are “trying too hard” or labeled as a frigid prude.
By defining cinema as a strict set of rules, you inherently exclude any artist with an outside the box idea. Yet, women and other minority groups are told they have to stand out to be noticed. Being of any other demographic but a white man immediately puts you at a disadvantage to succeed. Women of color face the double jeopardy situation of discrimantion and are twice written off, simultaneously being considered not enough and too much. “Ma” was a psychological thriller that tapped into issues most films have never. Octavia Spencer created a polarizing character and played a million roles in one, and yet she was also denied a nomination for her work. It’s okay for people of color and women to make movies, as long as we stay in our lane. But that isn’t how art works. The practice of making something from scratch is rooted in it putting everyone at an even playing ground. If a woman directs a film that is enjoyed by audiences and studied by other filmmakers, it isn’t a subgenre of feminist film, it’s just a piece of cinema.
