Congrats to the woman who scored a couple of Oscars last night. While everyone seems to get off on the fact she beat her ex-husband, among others, for Best Director, she made history by being the first woman to win for directing a feature-length film. Of course all great things, however, as BlondHouswife just tweeted:
“James Cameron consoled himself last night, by rolling in a huge pile of money. Something his ex-wife’s movie will never see.”
The imagery is more than I can handle here. But it’s funny because it’s probably true on both accounts. Unless the historic rumblings of the awards starts to drown out the Avatar hype machine, The Hurt Locker will still pale in comparison to Avatar’s box office earnings.
With the awards, making history and all the critical acclaim inside the film industry, it’s interesting to see what people aren’t really talking so much about here. That a woman directed and produced an action-based ANTI-WAR FLICK. Yeah, how about that. Suck it all you testosterone-crazed misogynist pigs out there.
This moment also brings to mind another female director who shared with us the lives of NY’s drag queens rising from poverty-stricken backgrounds to come out and express their brilliant and beautiful selves in extravagant competitions. Jennie Livingston directed 1990′s Paris is Burning, which was a tour de force for both queer cinema and for art house crowds alike.
While both of these directorial cases clearly demonstrate smart, talented women doing their thing, they also bring to light how much more has to be done to promote women filmmakers. We shouldn’t have to wait another 2o years for a female director to break through on the indie scene, or another 82 years for mainstream acclaim. Not to mention what’s going on in the valley or what is not happening for the most basic of womens rights in places like Afghanistan. Thankfully, the days of suburban girls burning bras are long gone. However, there’s much more left to do.
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