Today in totally unsurprising news.
No women have been nominated for Best Director at this year’s Oscars, again.
Following the release of the eagerly anticipated Academy Award nominations this afternoon, it became apparent that one group of people were seemingly missing from the Best Director category: women.
(We were almost entirely snubbed from the Best Picture category too, if it wasn’t for Little Women thankfully receiving the nod it deserves.)
To add insult to injury, only one woman ever has won the Academy Award for Best Director.
In 2010, Kathryn Bigelow became the first woman to pick up the award for The Hurt Locker. The film also won Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay.
There is always an argument to made around awards season concerning the lack of diversity that too often exists within these big categories.
Alongside them is the common rebuttal that the films and directors that do receive the nod are simply better, and that it’s not the fault of the Academy for paying more attention to superior art.
But to accept that is to ignore the many films released this year that were directed by women and that were, essentially, excellent.
Greta Gerwig’s Little Women has received critical acclaim for both its beautifully woven narrative as well as the performances of every single member of its cast.
Lulu Wang’s The Farewell depicted Chinese American culture in a way that it has never been seen by a mainstream audience before.
Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers became the underdog of the year, as it nabbed rave review after rave review from critics who were delightfully shocked to be proven wrong.
And while Little Women may have received the recognition it deserves in other Oscars categories (it has thankfully been nominated for Best Picture with both Saoirse Ronan and Florence Pugh receiving the nod for their individual roles), Gerwig’s absence from the Best Director category is noticeable.
After all, she would keep good company with Mendes, Tarantino, and Scorsese.
So what is the solution? There might not be an all-encompassing one, but giving women more opportunities – and encouragement – to share their art might be a good start.
At the end of the day, what woman would want to be an actor if she couldn’t see herself on the screen?
