Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Complex Thoughts On Gender Roles


Gender equality is a weird thing to me. It seems like there are PC driven movements for giving men their own this and women their own that, yet other PC driven movements strive to tear down the walls that separate the sexes. It all seems silly to me.

Here’s the question that provoked this topic: why is the best acting Oscar separated by gender? One sex can do as good of a job as that the other, right? Most would agree that Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson are phenomenal actors. Why are they separated when it comes to awards? Why can’t they compete against each other? It’s not like power lifting where the strongest woman, due to her genetic makeup, can’t compete with the strongest man. Women don’t lack some acting gene that I’m unaware of, right? Acting is something both sexes can do well. 

Is it because men lack the nuance to play a woman and vice versa, so they must be separate? What if Martin Scorsese filmed a movie about George Washington starring Helen Mirren as the title role and everyone accepted her performance was the best by a woman? She did the best job of playing a man, so therefore, should be judged alongside others in similar roles, men. Maybe the category should be called Best Roll Played by a (Insert Man or Woman). However, that still doesn’t solve the problem. Ultimately, there is no reason for this separation. My theory is the Oscar people want to give out more awards for more TV time. These Hollywood types are desperate for attention, right? Well, if they want more TV time, they should give out a bunch of awards – awards to all actors who acted in a movie that particular year. “The Oscar for Best Marlon Wayans performance goes to Marlon Wayans in White Chicks.”

Here is the best solution: give out age group awards. Age group awards make way more sense. Didn’t Anna Paquin win an Oscar for best supporting actress when she was 11? That’s insane! She was up against Emma Thompson who was 34 at the time. Can you imagine people saying an 11 year old is better than you at your job? It would have to make you rethink every aspect of your life. 

Back to the age group point, if 11 year old Anna Paquin beats Jonathan Lipnicki (the kid from Jerry Maguire), you think, well, no shit. That’s completely reasonable. She did a way better job.

This just makes sense to me.

4 comments:

  1. It's probably just to prevent favoritism among possible sexists that are part of whatever group chooses the oscars.

    Frankly, I gave up when Lord Of The Rings lost to Chicago. I think they're all kinds of borked.

    But the essence of what you're saying.... in an ideal world yeah, I agree with you. Unfortunately reality sucks sometimes D:

    I would rethink my job if someone told me an 11 year old was better at it than me.

    -E

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  2. Well, isn't that crazy they don't feel like they can do an ethical job and pick the best?

    Ultimately, I think it's just weird.

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  3. let's talk about cost of coverage for male drivers vs. female drivers! Now thats weird!

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  4. Very interesting! I think that they probably have to separate awards because otherwise, if one gender won more than the other, the other would pitch a fit and rain fire down in their flint and paper parade.

    I look forward to reading more. :)

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