by Imran Siddiquee
The Academy of Motion Picture Sciences released their nominations this morning for the 84th Annual Oscars, to be held February 26th in Hollywood, CA. This year they voted 9 films into the Best Picture category, ranging from the popular (The Help) to the lesser seen (like The Artist). None of the nominees were written or directed by a woman and only one, the aforementioned The Help, features a woman in the starring role and only one, War Horse, has a female producer (Kristin Wiig and Annie Mumolo were nominated for Best Original Screenplay for Bridesmaids).
Best Picture Nominess:
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse
The full list of nominations is available here.
So the question becomes, of the 9 anointed films, which do you think includes the best portrayal of gender? Which of them, if any, passes the Bechdel Test? Are any of them especially offensive or positive? Let us know in the comments below!
We’ll be tracking the Academy Awards over on our Sexy or Sexism? blog in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for more in-depth analysis and reporting.
I haven’t seen any of the nominated films. BUT I did just see the best action movie ever: Haywire. I’m going again tomorrow. Carano kicks ASS!!!
Well I don’t think it’s either sexy or sexist! I agree with the picture nominees. They’re all good movies!
The Help is a wonderful film. It shows real women, the good and the bad of real women. I appreciate that in a film. It’s not one-sided.
I tghhuot all three of these articles were really worth the read. Thanks for linking to them. The last one in particular shows just how unpleasant sexism can be.