I can’t remember the last time I saw a woman character in a film or on TV who wasn’t strong. Even when they’re bad they seem to be empowered and excused for their flaws. All the weak and bad characters nowadays are almost always white men.
Kawabunga! Love it. Still got to see a lot of these films. Did see Alison J in I, Tonya. Brilliant!!
You're damn right!
An abundance of talent and magic in this group of nominees.
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Equality for actresses now increasingly appears to be aping the traditional roles of men and replaying just about every iteration, good or bad, ad infinitum. When they run out of masculine roles I guess there's always intersex.
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Why hasn’t Annette Benning gotten any recognition for “Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool”? A truly wonderful performance as Gloria Grahame.
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The winner in the Best Actor category this year will be a woman. I’m willing to place a bet on it.
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Nurse ratchet was a strong woman.
We live in a very self-congratulatory culture. We always want to congratulate ourselves on stuff. But obesity is growing, and public school kids are getting worse test scores than ever before, right?
We live in a very self-congratulatory culture. We always want to congratulate ourselves on stuff. But obesity is growing, and public school kids are getting worse test scores than ever before, right?
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Would a “normal” happy woman, whatever that is, ever be interesting enough to be a movie heroine? And thus an Oscar nominee?
Face it. There needs to be an unsettling element. Trying to figure out if that is good or bad. And a step further, what kind of psyche does it take to play those parts?
Face it. There needs to be an unsettling element. Trying to figure out if that is good or bad. And a step further, what kind of psyche does it take to play those parts?
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I notice that in publications like the Times, the attributes "fierce" and "ferocious" are considered virtues when ascribed to women but they are rarely applied to men, and even then only in the context of sports.
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Not considered virtues by this reader, whether applied to men or women. I'm waiting for us all to celebrate kinder, gentler men.
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And kinder, gentler women.
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Remember the dinner conversation test? I'd much rather have dinner with someone who is "wily, ferocious and unbowed" then someone who is "traditionally nice"!
This article felt like something out of the 50s, or an old Virginia Slims ad: Wow, she's independent, but they kind of like/tolerate her anyway!
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You had me until this: "Who out there wouldn’t want to follow Frances McDormand’s Mildred, from “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” into battle? Or, for that matter, the tough mamas played by Allison Janney in “I, Tonya...”? At the very least, these are not women anyone would soon cross..." So at a time when women are finding their voices against abusers we are to glorify an abuser (Tonya Harding's mother) in the name of recognizing the actor who portrays her. I can only ask: Are we to follow Larry Nassar into battle too because he was someone who at one time we would not have wanted to cross?
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Congratulations to Mary J Blige.
Mary doesn't just sing a song - she gives a performance. Happy to see her talents acknowledged in this new arena for her.
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when will we again be able to enjoy movies without insisting that they be politically correct?
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That used to be the case.
Women receiving opportunities to star, direct and play meaningful characters is part of what the public discourse has unwittingly created. The fact that there are no matinee idols receiving recognition is further evidence of the meritocracy that many in this country strive for.
I think sometime in the 2020’s people will be thankful that a moron (Trump) helped create something he had no intention of being part of.
The author of this piece seems to know a lot about movies. Doesn't she realize that the Oscar nominations are just the way Hollywood likes to portray itself? Suddenly it's now all about "strong women." Whoop-dee-doo! But these films were made while Harvey Weinstein was still king, but, of course, "nobody knew." I hope that people boycott the Oscars. We don't need to see them all decked out in their loathsome hypocriticalness.
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She knows almost nothing about movies. Especially the fact that they snubbed me for The Disaster Artist.
Older actresses are fully developed people with character and depth. What is there not to like?
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"And almost none play a character you would want to cross, the writer says."
Precisely. These are actors playing roles, otherwise known as pretending. There are plenty of strong women in the world. Look around you.
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It's also worth noting that, for a change, none of these actresses are playing prostitutes and none of them have been transformed via prosthetics in order to portray characters who are deformed or otherwise unrecognizable. Then again, there's Gary Oldman...
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Never mind Phantom's Thread's Cyril or for that matter Allison Janney or Frances McDormand -- the scariest (and an "ingenue") was Vicky Krieps as Alma Elson in the Phantom Thread. Mushrooms anyone?
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I think the 40-60 year old age group in movies is the same for both males and females: empt-ynesters (whether their children are killed, estranged, or kidnapped) with a chip on their shoulder with nothing to lose. No time for niceties or false pretenses.
I can't help but see similarities between Frances McDormand's character and Liam Neeson's in the Taken series. Albeit the latter plays more into the male fantasy of just breaking necks and shooting slugs into bad guys and not so much the brave confronting of authorities and the status quo they represent.
They're middle aged rebels without a cause.
Here in NYC, it might be a bit different. I'm 48 and childless and still hoping for kids. That's not super unusual up here. I mostly watch movies with action heroes my age; Daniel Craig (Skyfall, Spectre), Hugh Jackman (Logan), Tom Cruise (Jack Reacher, Rogue Nation), Keanu Reeves (John Wick), Matt Damon (Bourne), Jeremy Renner (everything), Jason Statham (Parker, Safe, The Mechanic).
#OscarsSoBadass? Even AMPAS couldn't have come up with PR like this, though likely they need it badly. But lets be honest, do the Oscars really have much to to do with empowerment, female or otherwise? At the end of the day, it's simply celebrities handing trophies to other celebrities. C'mon, Cara, it's one thing to report on the Oscars, another to shill for them.
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Next year I hope they make a movie about a leprechaun who falls in love with a snowman. The Shape of Snow. Very mystical.
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The Snowman would be "heat challenged" and would file a suit against the city of New York for not installing refrigerated passageways in the subway.
One more thing. Why did the amphibian in The Shape of Water have to be male? That's so predictable. I think it would have been much more compelling had the amphibian "love interest" been gender non-conforming.
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Why did the amphibian love interest have to be tall? I'm serious. The actor is like 6' 5". I sincerely don't see much that's radical about a woman falling for a tall humanoid creature. It happens in Beauty and the Beast. What would be radical would be a woman who's 5' 8" falling for 5' 7" humanoid creature. In the adapation of the Hobbit, it seem so radical when Tauriel falls for Kili, almost entirely because Kili is shorter. When I saw that (bad movie), I felt like I, as the viewer, was supposed to be kind of shocked that a slightly taller elf would fall in love with a slightly shorter dwarf like it was the most radical thing ever!!!
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Yeah, women falling for tall humanoid creatures is a common occurrence- especially if those creatures have money. Just ask Melania.
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Comment of the year!
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Allison Janney played Tonya Harding's very abusive mother. I think there's a big difference between being tough and being abusive. But Ms. Janney certainly deserves an Oscar nomination (and a win for Best Supporting Actress in my opinion) for her unflinching/convincing portrayal.
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Thanks for writing this. I've seen three of the four films pictured at the beginning of the article ("Mudbound" doesn't seem to have made it to where I live, or maybe I just didn't notice). "The women these actresses portray onscreen are not “likable” in the traditional sense but instead wily, ferocious and unbowed", and also thoroughly nasty and hateful people, I would add. We can only hope that Oscar voters and critics didn't go "ape for the roster of fearsome female characters", but for the performances of the actresses instead.
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I actually stopped reading the story when it implied Tonya's mother is to be admired because supposedly we wouldn't want to cross her. Is the takeaway from the "Me Too" movement that cruelty to family is admiral because it means you're fierce?
I agree, it's the performance that's fierce, the character is obviously a monster. Ms. Janney deserves acclaim and accolades.