Issa Rae’s resting bi**h face clap back, “Congratulations to those men”, is still reverberating against social media walls. The actor was announcing the Oscars’ 2020 nominations when something foul hit the air at the Best Director category — a section whose plummeting prestige is directly disproportionate to the median age of its nominees. Rae, along with actor John Cho, introduced the contenders vying for that golden statue. But so much is different this time round. Here’s what’s missing — the good, bad and oh, so ugly — from Oscars 2020.
Women: Unsurprisingly, the ladies are absent from the Best Director boys’ club category for the second year in a row. In the long-chequered HIStory of the Academy Awards, only five women have been nominated, with a dismal single win: Kathryn Bigelow in 2010 for The Hurt Locker . This year’s Little Women — by Greta Gerwig, who was nominated as the director of Lady Bird way back in 2017 — gets a nod in the Best Film section, but is conspicuously absent among the directors.
Women-centric films: Even the films nominated are gendered, and like life in general, women are on the back foot. Nine films in the Best Picture category and only one is about women. Five are male-centric. The Irishman says it all in the title; Joker is about an unstable man; Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is about a man and his friend, also a man; The Two Popes , about two men; 1917 is about several men fighting a war; and Ford v Ferrari takes on cars, racing and well, male bonding.
Diversity: Four years after its inception, former American lawyer April Reign’s hashtag #OscarsSoWhite looms large this year. Excepting, of course, a resounding two nominees: Bong Joon-ho and Cynthia Erivo ( Harriet ). It is a shame because the awards were doing so well, especially after 2017’s La La Land , oops, Moonlight ’s Best Picture win; and Viola Davis’ Best Supporting Actress nod. Last year, too, Green Book took home Best Picture, along with Alfonso Cuarón’s Best Director for Roma , and acting awards to both Mahershala Ali and Regina King.
Meryl Streep: It has also been two years since we’ve seen Streep grace the nominations list. Could she be slowing down after 21 nominations? Who are we kidding; she’s going to live forever.
Worthy contenders: It is unfortunate that the Oscars snubbed some of the best titles and performances of the year: Lulu Wang’s The Farewell starring Awkwafina, Hustlers with Jennifer Lopez, Ad Astra , Us , Uncut Gems , Dolemite Is My Name , Frozen 2 . The list is painfully long.
Host: There’s no host once again. So, less chances of bad comedy, like when Jimmy Kimmel said, “The only happy ending of all the nominees was the one in the middle of Moonlight. ” Or Seth MacFarlane’s description of Django Unchained as a film about “a man fighting to get back his woman, who’s been subjected to unthinkable violence. Or as Chris Brown and Rihanna call it, a date movie.” Cringe.
Meat: Another welcome move is the absence of meat. In a bid to continue being sustainable, the Academy Awards will serve an entirely plant-based menu. The move was encouraged by vegan actor Joaquin Phoenix, who called attention to animal cruelty in his win as Best Actor at both the Critics’ Choice Awards (CCA) and the Golden Globes.
Short speeches: Gone are the days when winners would pull an Alfred Hitchcock 20-second acceptance speech. Now we have political risers like Frances McDormand’s ‘Inclusion Rider’. Hopefully, Brad Pitt with his cheeky Tinder jokes and Quentin Tarantino jibes, will make hearts swoon again.
