Oscars 2020: what happened to the female directors?
"And the directors nominated for the 2020 Oscar are: Martin Scorsese with"The Irish Man", Todd Phillips with"Joker", Sam Mendes with"1917", Quentin Tarantino with"Once Upon A Time In Hollywood"And, finally, Bong Joon Ho with"Parasite"". So announce John Cho and Issa Rae in view of the 92nd edition of the Oscars to be held on February 10th. Don't you notice something strange? As if something is missing from this list. Or rather, someone. Ah here. No director, no woman's name. Not surprisingly, the actress closes the ad exclaiming "Congratulations to these men!".
5 directors in 92 years
In its 92 years of existence, the Academy Award has proved to be perfectly in line with the dynamics of a male-led society. Only 5 - five - female candidates for the director's award. Lina Wertmüller with "Pasqualino Settebellezze" 1976, Jane Campion with "Piano lessons" of 1993, Sofia Coppola with "Lost In Translation" of 2003, Kathryn Bigelow with "The Hurt Locker" of 2009 and, finally, Greta Gerwig with "Lady Bird" of 2017. Of these, only Kathryn Bigelow was honored with the coveted award, making her the first and, unfortunately for now, the last Oscar-winning female director.
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Expectations were high
Yet the conditions were there. Melina Matsoukas (Queen & Slim), Kasi Lemmons (Harriet), Olivia Wilde (Booksmart), Lulu Wang (The Farewell), Marielle Heller (A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood), Lorene Scafaria (Hustlers), Alma Har'el (Honey Boy), but above all the one who was considered the most eligible to be named, namely Greta Gerwig with her “Little Women”. It is almost a paradox that the latter has received 6 nominations in other categories, including the Oscar for best film, the Oscar for the best costumes, the Oscar for the best soundtrack, the Oscar for the best actress and not. A riot of awards that would immediately make one think of an Oscar-winning direction, however, apparently, it was not considered up to par.
It is evident that, by now, attributing the cause of this lack to too small a number of female directors is rather lackluster, not to mention ridiculous.
The time has come for the Academy Award to be rejuvenated
And to respond to the many comments on the web of those who do not consider these artists worthy, underlining the superiority of their male colleagues, I appeal to the authoritative words of those who know more than me and, certainly, about them. I'm talking about Richard Brody. film critic for The New Yorker, who makes a heavy accusation against the Academy Award, calling the nominations "fossilized". Speaking of Greta Gerwig, Brody writes:
"I don't think his direction of the film is literally among the top five hits of the year in the field, but it comes pretty close, and far exceeds that of all the nominees except Scorsese."
A Hashtag against the lack of inclusiveness
#OscarsSoWhite, the hashtag that went viral between 2015 and 2016 to draw attention to the absence of non-white candidates for two years in a row, has now evolved to the next level: #OscarsSoWitherAndWithMoreMen. More than evolution, it would perhaps be appropriate to speak of involution.
While waiting for better times, we console ourselves with good news: Scarlett Johansson has obtained not one, but two nominations: as best actress for her role in "The Story of a Marriage" and as best supporting actress in "Jojo Rabbit. ". A more unique than rare event if we consider that, before her, only 11 other actors had the honor of receiving a double nomination in the same year. Scarlett, you are our last hope.
