The Oscars Problem with Race and Gender
While it was somewhat of a relief that the 2024 Oscars ceremony was shorter than usual & Ryan Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken” dance number was fun (Slash on guitar! all that PINK!), Jimmy Kimmel in one of his better moments, clearly called out Hollywood for their ongoing misogyny. Blaming the genre (“Barbie was a comedy!”) or the geography (“Scorcese’s from New York & The Academy hates NY!”) doesn’t solve the problem. Should Greta Gerwig have been nominated for Directing? Yes. Should Scorcese’s “Killer of the Flower Moon” have won ANY Oscars? Yes. Should maybe one of those Oscars have gone to Lily Gladstone? Yes. (although, yes, Emma Stone was wildly brilliant in ‘Poor Things’). The internet’s talking all about how Scorcese has now gone three times with 0-10 at the Oscars (zero wins out of ten nominations). Perhaps it’s because (as the Internet says), the Academy doesn’t like Scorcese. Or maybe yes, it’s that New York thing (although KOTFM is based in Oklahoma). But maybe it’s just easier to blame geography and genre rather than actually face The Academy’s ongoing and inherent bias against women, BIPOC women, and Indigenous people in general. The same people who probably didn’t even see “Barbie” relegated Gerwig and Robbie into that often maligned genre that is comedy and refused to acknowledge their brilliance. And yet, Ken is cool. Ken deserves an ENTIRE OTT music and dance extravaganza. Because: Ryan Gosling is white and male and mainstream handsome and appropriately funny. He doesn’t make white people (especially white men) uncomfortable. Of course, Gosling was one of the first to call out The Academy’s hypocrisy in snubbing Gerwig and Robbie, but he’s still happy to take the spotlight at the Oscars and leave it up to Kimmel to voice any protest. A protest that was okay because: comedy. And how are we supposed to see the failure of the Academy to vote for an Indigenous woman to actually WIN an Oscar? Reminder: while Gladstone is the first NATIVE AMERICAN woman to be nominated, in the entire history of the Oscars, two Indigenous women have been nominated: Yalitza Paricio for her performance in “Roma” in 2018, and Keisha Castle-Hughes for “Whale Rider” in 2003. (And yes all three are brilliant, but it’s so pathetic that there are only THREE). The Internet is showing a lot of outrage over the Gladstone snub, but instead of targeting the problem (The Academy’s racism/misogyny), there’s a lot of hate being aimed at Emma Stone. She’s a brilliant actress and her performance in “Poor Things” was indeed award-winning. So no, she doesn’t deserve the hate. But there’s also a question: did the largely straight & male Academy voters care about her acting or was it really just about all that sex & female nudity? (“Furious jumping” as Stone’s character refers to all the sex she has throughout the film). As Clarisse Loughrey points out in The Independent, this is Stone’s second win, and perhaps even Stone knew it was Gladstone’s Oscar (if all the critiques of Stone’s Oscar speech are to be believed). But again, pitting women against women is missing the real problem. Loughrey is smart enough to avoid doing this, instead focusing on the content of each film - positioning Stone’s Bella Baxter as “joyous” and Gladstone’s Mollie as perhaps too subtle and/or dark for The Academy. KOTFM is indeed about a very dark chapter of America’s past - a history that is currently illegal to teach in Oklahoma schools. Oppenheimer is also about a very dark chapter of our past. But Oppenheimer is a very white, very male narrative (the only female role is minor and poorly written). And really that’s a large part of the problem: it’s not really about the Academy snubbing Scorcese (again) or the supposed brilliance of Nolan, and it’s not really about the Academy being ‘uncomfortable’ with films relegated to the comedy genre. It’s about misogyny and racism and the way White America (and the Academy by extension) repeatedly erases the work, the talent, and the brilliance of women and BIPOC people. And it has to stop.