So the Oscars are upon us. As something of a cinephile, I've had the chance to see seven out of the nine films nominated for Best Picture (the exceptions being the WWII films Darkest Hour and Dunkirk, which I'm sure are great movies, but just didn't interest me enough to bother, personally). Based on the overall number of award nominations that each of those nine pictures has gotten, the Best Picture award this year is considered to be essentially a contest between Three Billboards and The Shape of Water. That does not surprise me one ounce, but it does disappoint me. Here's why:
It's obvious from this list that female empowerment is an in theme with the Hollywood elite this year, and in a lot of ways that seems appropriate. After all, to put matters in perspective, the year 2017 began with the first Women's March turning out to be the largest demonstration in American history and ended with the Me Too movement being named Time magazine's Person of the Year. Merriam Webster announced that 'feminism' was the dictionary's most looked-up word of the year in 2017, likewise. Continuing this theme, all three of the top-grossing movies of 2017 in the United States (Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Beauty and the Beast, and Wonder Woman) had female leads; a feat previously last accomplished in the year 1958. Clearly 2017 was marked by a major increase in public interest in feminism and feminist attitudes. (Thank you President Trump for making all this possible!) For that reason, it seems fitting that the front-runners for the Academy's coveted Best Picture award should be two pictures about female empowerment. But why these particular two and not Lady Bird: the one directed by a woman?
These pictures all have rather different takes on what female empowerment looks like. Three Billboards has won the top awards already at the Golden Globes, the SAG Awards, and the British Academy Awards, so frankly I think it's probably going to win Best Picture at the Oscars next Sunday too. Out of the three films in question, that one would be my least favorite. The reason it has won so far, and will likely win again on Sunday, is because, out of these female empowerment pictures, it is the most conciliatory toward the patriarchy. Three Billboards portrays female liberation as something achieved through negotiation and compromise with the forces of patriarchy. The Shape of Water, considered the runner-up in odds, contains a less conciliatory vision of female emancipation, but one which still, nonetheless, is impossible to achieve without men playing a central role. (Plus the director is Mexican, not American, so another disadvantage for the top award.) Lady Bird, in contrast, portrays men as generally a disappointment and ultimately unnecessary to one's empowerment as a woman. That's, just by sheer coincidence, the one directed by a woman. And that is why it will win nothing whatsoever despite being the most critically acclaimed film of the year. The Academy, after all, is basically a bunch of old, liberal men who aren't interested in lighthearted coming-of-age stories about young women, especially when they don't offer ideological concessions, and even more especially when the director is a woman. For further perspective, only one movie with a female director has ever won the Academy's Best Picture award to date: 2010's The Hurt Locker: a war movie featuring almost no women.
The victory of Three Billboards to me seems as inevitable as the Oscars being hosted by a man and
accused rapist Kobe Bryant winning an Oscar for his critically panned basketball short right in the middle of said female empowerment night. *sighs* My male allies. They want to support female liberation. They just don't want to listen to women.
Oh well. I am glad that two mostly-feminist pictures with female leads are considered the front-runners this year, don't get me wrong. That never happens. Still...
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Originally Posted by IMPress Polly
What'd ya think of it?
