baftas / grammys etc

[beavington]

I may be stating the obvious here but to be honest im quite oblivious to sexism so ill just be pleased i came to a well known argument all on my own if im not just talking shite!

I never watched the baftas but today i was reading a 4 day old paper which was talking about the nominees (ive no idea who won, ill read about that next week ) and it seemed really ridiculous how they categorise the male /female awards. As though theyre in a different league to each other? Surely if you ignore the fact that the choice of parts to play is viewed as limited for female actors, acting skills cannot get more equal so there is no argument for this way of critiquing as there is with sports competitions etc. It would be more interesting if they just had best lead and best support and left it open to both male and female nominations.

Only if it was enshrined that nominees were of both sexes. ...Because women wouldn't get a look in if it was based on lead roles. There are so many more roles for men.

No it's not sexist. Setting aside scripts which are addressing transgendered issues most scripts require on the whole men and women and on the whole the roles aren't interchangeable.

There is scope for reversing roles in classic plays, particularly Shakespeare. Fiona Shaw for example was terrific as Richard II and Phyllida Lloyd directed an all female Julius Caesar. But Shakespeare is regularly cast out of time/location.

Not a film as such but one of the most powerful performances I saw last year was a screening of NT's A Streetcar Named Desire. Gillian Armstrong was astonishing as Blanche and Ben Foster possibly the best Stanley I've seen. Would be terribly unfair in any awards they were nominated for that they competed with each other. And in the original screen version Brando and Leigh were nominated for male and female leads and Karl Madden and Kim Hunter for supporting. Leigh, Madden and Hunter all won.

That's just the film that sprang immediately to mind but there will be loads of others where the male and female leads and supports both deserve recognition.

It's simply recognising the reality there are male and female roles. Your proposal would reduce recognition of outstanding performances by half.

I don't think you can ignore the fact that the number/choice of roles is far greater for men. Hence why you have separate categories. And I don't think it would be interesting if they were combined. Men would win the majority, because the world is viewed through male eyes. If you look at other joint awards such as book awards, they are dominated by male winners. Bidisha (I think) coined the phrase cultural femicide to describe it.

If it were a fair playing field, I'd agree. But it isn't.

I don't think you can ignore the fact that the number/choice of roles is far greater for men

I don't agree that's a fact at all. Outside of genre war or action movies most films or

or plays have lead male and female roles. The 2 categories recognise that.

There are twice as many roles for men than women in films. That's pretty significant.

Still Lost even with that you say most films or plays have a lead male and female roles so who is going to win the "best lead" category?

Actually the "strong male lead" + "supporting woman" sounds like a fundamental ideal of a marriage doesn't it

There are twice as many roles for men than women in films. That's pretty significant.

That's not a fact either.
Pilchard I don't a "best lead" is a good idea.

Apologies i appeared to abandon my own thread! Stilllost your example falls down when one film produces 2 outstanding performances from the same gender, only one can win then too? Im no film buff in the sightest as you can tell from my op, it just seemed that we dont differentiate other actors within categories so why gender as gender doesnt affect quality of acting? If there were fewer black actors being nominated (i have no idea if this is the case!) then i dont think creating a new category would be seen as helpful?

Op have you heard of the Beschdel test? It may give you more understanding of where the feminist posters are coming from.

The film industry (like most) is deeply sexist.

At least these awards give some woman at least a chance of some recognition for their work.