If you’re anything like me, then you are an avid watcher of all things Hollywood. I love the glitz, the glam, the drama, the intrigue, give me everything, I’m there for it. What I’m not loving right now, however, is the sexism blatantly present in the industry. We are currently mid-awards season, meaning the Golden Globes have ended, with icons like Angela Bassett, knock-out newcomer Quinta Brunson, and the extremely talented Michelle Yeoh stealing the stage with their well-deserved wins. The clip of Michelle Yeoh telling the musician that attempted to play her off the stage to “shut up, please. I can beat you up” was iconic and will forever live rent-free in my head.
The night of the Golden Globes was a wonderful evening with so many amazing women taking home prestigious awards. Due to this, it was a bit of a surprise when the Oscars announced the Best Director nominee list for their upcoming 95th Award ceremony airing on March 12. For the first time in years, the list did not include any women directors. When I first saw this, I was understandably unhappy as I can imagine a lot of other women were. Then the confusion set in, did women just not make movies in 2022? Did a movie directed by a woman start to play when the members of the academy were attacked with a sudden case of blindness? On September 16th of 2022 an amazing movie called The Woman King, directed by the wonderful Gina Prince-Bythewood was released. The Woman King currently has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 94% and would’ve been a phenomenal choice for the Best Director category.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t particularly shocked about the Oscars’ dismal nominee list. While The Oscars began in 1928, the first woman to be nominated for Best Director was Lina Wertmuller in 1976, and the first woman to win the Oscar for Best Director was Kathryn Bigelow in 2009. It took 81 years for women to break through in the male-dominated film industry and win what is often considered the pinnacle of film awards. Therefore, it’s not particularly surprising that a lot of female filmmakers are right back where they started, sitting at home watching men win awards that some of them deserved more. To the Academy, women across the world have a very simple demand: do better.