The Oscars Are The Next Award Ceremony to Snub Women for Nominations, This Time for Best Director
Over the years, women have become more and more prevalent in the director's chair, showing the amazing talents and vision they have for films. On the contrary, though, there has been a continued persistence to snub them in major award categories, mainly best director.
Just recently during the 2020 Golden Globes, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association left off a number females from the nomination list for Best Director, despite having a banner year.
And now with the Oscars approaching steadily, the nominations have been revealed. And can you guess what's happened again? Another large snub. In fact, no females have been nominated for the award of Best Director for the upcoming ceremony in February.
Related:
'Little Women' Cast Reacts to Director Greta Gerwig's Oscar Snub
4 Women Snubbed by The Oscars For Best Director Category
Greta Gerwig Is a New Mom & This Is What Parenthood Looks Like
Greta Gerwig Snubbed for Nomination of Best Director Award
Many of the highly acclaimed films this past year were directed by women, so it comes as quite the shock that there was not one single nomination for Best Director with the Academy. Greta Gerwig, for example, directed Little Women. Her snub comes along with six total nominations the film has received including best picture, costume design, score, and actress in a leading and supporting role. But no best director? Sounds suspicious.
People are not happy with the disregard of female talent for directing, especially Greta Gerwig's snubbing for Little Women. Many have gone to social media to express their displeasure, with one user sharing, "To nominate Greta for best picture and best screenplay and best actresses but not best director just truly speaks to the way we don't view women as auteurs no matter how much they clearly ARE."
Other Female Directors Also Given the Cold Shoulder for the Nomination
Gerwig wasn't the only prominent female director to get the cold shoulder. Marielle Heller, who directed A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood also didn't make the cut, as well as, Lulu Wang for The Farewell, Melina Matsoukas for Queen & Slim, and Lorene Scafaria for Hustlers. It's hard to fathom that none of these films were nominated for Best Director.
For so many people, it was mindblowing that the nominations for Best Director were a homogenous mix of white males. Issa Rae, the writer for the HBO series, Insecure, chimed in on the controversy, sarcastically congratulating all the 'men' that were nominated for the award. "Congratulations to those men," Rae wrote on her Twitter account.
No Jennifer Lopez, No Beyonce Either
It wasn't just women being blackballed for the Best Director's award, there were countless other snubs that involved women. Jennifer Lopez, who had an amazing role in the film, Hustlers, didn't get a nomination for the part. One social media user shared, "Wow... can't believe Jennifer Lopez was snubbed. She legitimately deserved to win this thing. #OscarNoms #OscarsSoWhite."
Beyonce, who starred in the real-life film, The Lion King, and wrote and performed an original song for the movie titled Spirit, was also denied a nomination. Elizabeth Wagmeister, a journalist for Variety tweeted out, "Was live on @GMAduring #Oscars nominations, so couldn’t react live on Twitter, but all I have to say is WOW. So many surprises...no #JLo, no #Beyonce, no Taron...no female directors...again!"
Social Media Reacts to the Perceived Homogenity of Nominations
People on social media didn't just lament the snubs, they went after the Academy, calling for reform and action in the future. One user shared, "When The Oscars voting body is overwhelmingly white, male and with an average age of near the grave we really have to question what validation from them even means. Filmmakers like Lulu Wang, Alma Harel, Mati Diop, and Greta Gerwig made the films that moved me this year not clown man."
Although this year is lacking diversity in the number of women that are being represented in a handful of awards, it rings awfully similar to 2016, when minorities were left out of the nomination list. As a result, it was boycotted. We'll have to wait and see what happens with this ceremony, but if it's any indication, the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite is currently trending.
