March 2, 2023

"There’s still a lot of male parts. I don’t know if that would be fair" — fair to get rid of the gendered categories for movie awards.

Said Patricia Arquette, quoted in "Awards Without Gender Categories? Celebrities Debate/Nominees at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday were split on combining award show categories for best actor and best actress" (NYT).
Female nominees in particular expressed concern that the idea of a single prize would put men at a distinct advantage because of the richer and more numerous roles available to them.... 
Sarah Polley, the writer and director of the female-focused film “Women Talking,” which examines sexual assault in a religious community, said the potential for parity in consideration had to be weighed against the realities of the film and television industries. 
“What none of us want to see is a general acting category where it ends up being all-male nominees,” she said, “Which I think is the fear — and that’s a genuine fear.”...

That's a more nuanced concern, and the push to go gender neutral is based on the very specific problem of what to do with nonbinary actors and nonbinary characters. I suspect the momentum is already too strong to maintain the traditional male/female characters.

If this were analyzed seriously, we'd reject awards altogether. It's not a proper contest, like foot race where everyone runs the same distance, but it is an interesting occasion for examining what movies — and awards shows — really are.

And it's pretty obvious that they are highly gendered. There are roles for men and roles for women, and they are very different. The way we identify with the performers or feel excited by them is expressive of our ideas and feelings about gender. 

And look at how the actors and actresses dress for the awards shows. We watch to immerse ourselves in the extreme gender differentiation. Even if some stars gender-bend, there'd be nothing to bend without gender.

Drain the Hollywood enterprise of gender and what would be on offer? 

50 comments:

rcocean said...

Woody Allen refused to show up for his AA. Brando sent an Indian (fake), and George C. Scott refused the award entirely.

Has any actress ever done the same?

Lets set up a third category for those who wish to compete without segregation by sex. It can be like an all-genders bathroom. Anyone can play.

Dave Begley said...

And the winner for best adapted screenplay is ..... Dave Begley, Frankenstein, Part II.

Doug said...

Whew! For a minute there, I thought womyn were about to run out of things to complain about.

Kevin said...

I suspect the momentum is already too strong to maintain the traditional male/female characters.

How many of these women spoke up when trans people started winning all the women's swimming events?

Because that is the momentum of which you speak.

rcocean said...

Do men have richer or more memorable parts because the director/writers are men? Or it because women are lesser subjects for interesting film?

Kevin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jaq said...

I they work hard enough, they will be able to construct a set of incentives that manage to create movies that nobody wants to see because they are un-relatable to normies, who make up the vast majority of movie audiences.

n.n said...

Male and female roles. Masculine and feminine categories for movie awards.

A transgender spectrum politically congruent ("=") construct to include males and females who are cisgender etc.

rhhardin said...

All women are actresses to start with, so what's the best one can't really be limited to films. Hence drama-queen.

The men actually have acting as a part-time profession and do real stuff elsewhere.

rhhardin said...

Any transgender films will be box office disasters anyway.

Scotty, beam me up... said...

If there appears to be a trend where straight male actors start “dominating” the nominations, the organization that runs each particular awards show will make sure that straight male actors will not be “eligible” for some unstated reason to be nominated, thus clearing the board for women, gay male, transgender (both M-F & F-M), non-binary, and any of the other 87 gender actors for the nominations. And if women, particularly straight women, start dominating the category, they will be added to list of those actors “not eligible”. The lefties in Hollywood have already proven that this is what they are doing in movies, particularly Disney, which appears bent on remaking their beloved classics and casting as characters in the remakes those actors of what they consider part of “protected classes”. No originality in Hollywood these days.

n.n said...

Before the development of a binary human gender (i.e. sex-correlated attributes), there would exist binary sexes in an undifferentiated, partially differentiated fertilized egg, then an emergent consciousness from six weeks.

Tim said...

It all depends on who's ox is being gored doesn't it. Where was she when a biological male was dominating women's swimming?

PM said...

I think a cogent solution would be to expand the awards categories to include all possible genders for several years before going back to male and female - just like everything else will.

PB said...

No. There must be one award per gender, in every category. Cloward-Piven the Academy!

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

In Plato's Republic, Socrates says the foreign display in some new festival is the best. The Rose Bowl has a prize called "best international float." Best is best.

Owen said...

Too many good male parts?

Well, that’s unacceptable. And the obvious solution presents itself.

Cut the male parts! Snip snip snip! And no anesthetic!

Wait…

rrsafety said...

Let the non binary choose which they award they want to be considered for and we can all move in. Will it make them slightly uncomfortable? Perhaps but such is life. Why should the non queer world have to ruin our things just because the latest gender fad wants it ruined?

AlbertAnonymous said...

Liberals imploding. Pass the popcorn…

Can’t watch those pat yourselves on the back award shows. Started long ago with all the political speeches and just keeps getting worse.

MikeD said...

"the very specific problem of what to do with nonbinary actors and nonbinary characters."? The easiest solution is to emulate what normal people do, ignore them and their mental illness!

Joe Smith said...

The left only wants to change the rules if they get to win...

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Yes! do it.

Men and men pretending to be women - only. That's fair, right?
What's not to gush over? weee.

Breezy said...

Don’t forget the already real possibility that a trans woman will win a female acting award. Because men are better female actors than women are. Who needs female actors anymore?

The bright side is we might be witnessing the implosion of the gender-bending ideology in slow motion.

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

Hollywood is a dumpster fire.

what they promote:

-Smoking
-Gun violence
-Sadistic violence
-Gang Violence
-sex sex sex for children. not normal sex, either - raunchy weird sex.

Then - they shut out blacks and women.
LOL - It's like a Strozk shit show.

Sebastian said...

"It's not a proper contest"

Correct. That's because it's a marketing stunt.

"There are roles for men and roles for women, and they are very different."

Correct. That's because men and women are very different. One of the joys of being human, celebrated in art until the day before yesterday.

JAORE said...

Gender is fluid. Whatever you wish at any particular moment.... apparently.

The only rational solution, should you fully buy in, is open competition for all.

Notice the left freaks out when genderless competition is suggested. Sports? Is there any real debate whether XX or XY would dominate?

But acting now seems to be on the list.

Business anyone?

Kirk Parker said...

When I read the first sentence of Althouse's title, I thought this was going to be about an MTF transitional surgery clinic.

Sebastian said...

"It's not a proper contest"

Correct. That's because it's a marketing stunt.

"There are roles for men and roles for women, and they are very different."

Correct. That's because men and women are very different. One of the joys of being human, celebrated in art until the day before yesterday.

Michael said...

Just hang in a little longer, people. "Woke" is about to collapse due to its intrinsic disconnect from reality. Then we can clear the rubble and resume building a civilization.

Two-eyed Jack said...

If I wanted to solve this, I would have more acting categories, drama, comedy, singer/dancer, voice acting, fantasy/sci-fi, etc. This would open up more space for woman (or non-binary) actors to win in some category.

It is not my desire to solve this, however, it is my role to watch the decline of an institution of our culture that once seemed important but is now kind of like trying to remember NHL MVPs or something.

By the time Frankenstein Part II wins, no one will care.

n.n said...

First, feminists/masculinists socially distance from babies through a medical term of art. Then, trans/homosexuals socially distance from others in the spectrum through an adulterated banner of albinophobic roots. NOW, they are braying for each other's bennies. Political congruence under the Pro-Choice ethical religion is a many splendored thing.

n.n said...

I thought womyn were about to run out of things to complain about

Men, women, and "our Posterity" are from Earth. Feminists are from Venus. Maculinists are from Mars. Social progressives are from Uranus. #WarOfTheWorlds

Kate said...

What Polley and Arquette are saying without admitting is that women's roles (please, no parts) aren't as complex as men's. Hollywood hires plenty of women, so they're not talking about quantity, but quality. They're saying that an actress nominated today wouldn't stand a chance if her role had to compete against what today's nominated actor is asked to play. I don't necessarily agree, but I also think Polley can stuff it. A movie about rape in a religious community? That's like casting Black actors as slaves, which used to be the only way they got nominated. Quit writing victim stories and start writing average stories with great characters.

Duke Dan said...

Of course there are a lot of male parts. Half the population has them.

Kevin said...

There’s still a lot of male parts.

We seem to be going back to the old days when parts is parts.

cfs said...

"There is still way too many "male" parts. Let's put them under the knife and remove those that aggravate us the most."

Achilles said...

That's a more nuanced concern, and the push to go gender neutral is based on the very specific problem of what to do with nonbinary actors and nonbinary characters. I suspect the momentum is already too strong to maintain the traditional male/female characters.

Exactly.

Just let men identify as women so they can win those awards too.

Don't fight them.

They will just hurt you more. Bend over and let it happen. Biden will be "President."

Tara Reade spoke up and had her career and life ruined.

It is normal. It's OK. Just let it go.

World War III wont be that bad either. Nothing to get worked up about.

Lilly, a dog said...

Actors/actresses have been nominated for playing transgender characters, but shouldn't this "issue" wait until one of the few non-binary/ trans actors is nominated for a serious film award? Casting these anomalies is still a gimmick.

Shouldn't Hilary Swank return her Oscar for performing in transface?

I also learned that there is a movie called "Ticked-Off Trannies With Knives."

Michael K said...

Hilarious. The "Me too" types are busy locking up skilled producers and directors.

Marilyn Monroe when she got her first big break: "I'll never have to give another blowjob."

James K said...

I would think they’d add more categories, not reduce them. Best performance by a gay, best by a lesbian, best by a transgender male, and so on. Pretty soon they’d be participation trophies like everywhere else.

n.n said...

Gender: sex-correlated parts and behaviors. Social progress: sum of parts and behaviors. Karmic.

Leland said...

Best Director, genderless. Best Makeup, genderless. Best Cinematography, genderless. Best original song, genderless.

I’m not surprised Hollywood woman would be the ones against getting rid of gender categories, because it seems clear which gender is being erased. However, there is some inconsistency in how the rest of the industry is treated beyond the onscreen talent.

mccullough said...

Jodie Foster’s performance in Silence of the Lambs was as good as Anthony Hopkins performance in that movie. They both won an award.

It might make for a better awards show if they faced off but it’s tough to say that one was better. They both played off each other in the most important scenes.

Jack Nicholson and Louise Fletcher both won an award for One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.

And Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable both won an acting award for It Happened One Night.

It would be nuts to have to pick one over the other. A voter would just throw up their hands and pick someone else.





William said...

She's whistling in the dark. What with CGI, deep fakes, AI dialogue then it's probable carbon based life forms will be obsolete by the end of the decade. So far as writing, producing, and starring in movies who needs these primitives creatures..... Who wouldn't prefer a remake of Thelma & Louise with Marilyn Monroe and Greta Garbo. Garbo could get rid of that annoying accent. James Dean would be interesting in the Brad Pitt role. Perhaps with further improvements, you could choose to do the casting yourself and have AI write a more upbeat ending.... Maybe remake Casablanca with yourself in the Bogart role. Stormy Daniels could play the love interest and you could throw in some explicit sex scenes. There you have it: Porn, art, entertainment all in one viewing experience. It would be a big seller for Apple until such time as Microsoft develops a more immersive program. .

Breezy said...

Why would we as an audience accept a reward system that is not attuned to our preferences? If it becomes an outlier fringe thing, then let it be.

Lurker21 said...

It is true that there are more male roles in Hollywood films -- maybe in all films -- than female roles, but the literary world keeps telling us that straight white males are done, that nobody wants to read their boring stories anymore.

I don't know what to make of that. Are straight white men so old hat that women are poised to become much more prominent in films? Or are SWM not as much a thing of the past as the literary world thinks? Or are non-straight and non-white men coming into their own? It's a little reassuring to know that for all the official propaganda and activism in society, for all the movies with female heroes and cowardly inept males, men are still a big deal in Hollywood.

RNB said...

How apt that this comes up at the beginning of Women's Month! The solution -- in the realm of the Academy Awards as in all other things -- is that we need two sets of awards: One set for which everyone is eligible and another set for women only. For example: the FIRST pilots to fly across the Atlantic were Alcock and Brown. The FIRST WOMAN to fly across the Atlantic was Amelia Earhart. Granted, she was a passenger and wore a dress but she is still in the records as 'The First Woman to Fly Across the Atlantic.' The unacceptable outcome of no women getting an award was thus avoided.

tim maguire said...

There’s really no reason to set up separate awards for men and women. They already mix up genres, why not genders? It’s not like sports, where try as they might, they can’t stop biology from playing a decisive role.

RNB said...

Additional to my comment above. In the event that a woman wins The Prize (for which all are elibigle), no Women's Prize is awarded that year. The Women's Prize becomes The Prize. No equivalent Men's Prize is awarded because, frankly, no one cares if men get prizes or not.

lamech said...

Caused me look up and see where development of the five part tv series of The World According to Garp stood. Not much to indicate it is actively being developed.
I was pretty sure Lithgow got an Oscar nomination for Garp, then I noticed that in 1983 there were three nominations for gender switching roles Garp, Tootsie and Victor/Victoria.
All seemingly were too funny to be made today.
If only the current woke would go full Ellen James Society (cutting out their own tongues). Instead, focus appears to be on mutilation of kids.