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Monday, February 20, 2023
Gender neutral categories won’t fix the broken awards system
The Independent: Gender-neutral awards were supposed to make things fairer, a bit like the new off-field video assistant referee in football. And, just like VAR, some argue that they’ve levelled the playing field. Others think they’re destroying the game.
2 comments:
Carly Tamborello
said...
I’ve heard a lot of differing opinions on this that come to the same consensus: there isn’t a very clear solution, but it will require big changes of the awards systems themselves. I like the idea of the joint lead category described in the article, and I’d be curious to see what other new categories they can come up with. Of course, there is always the overarching flaw of awards ceremonies pitting artists against each other, or creating blatant award traps. That’s why I’m glad to see statements like Blanchett’s; after all, it’s the fault of the system, not the individual artists receiving the awards when other people aren’t getting recognized, so it’s good to see artists lift each other up. Ultimately, genderqueer artists are going to continue to not be recognized for as long as there is an absence of genderqueer roles in theatre. In order to see more people get the recognition they deserve, we need more representation.
This article is really interesting when considering the fact that they propose changing awards ceremonies in general, rather than continuing to create “gender neutral” categories. There is absolutely something to get out of gender-neutral awards: it does not frame a specific gender, and allows for flexibility in award nominees. However, with the way that some awards categories are often portrayed, I believe that it really is just better to scrap some of the categories, and replace them with better, more encompassing categories. A lot of roles have a big specificity with presentation, and often portray the actors as solo artists, which is really close-minded, especially when it comes to how that actor got to that spot thanks to designers, directors, and supporting cast members. I wish they would give more group awards in general, and award a really well functioning team over trying to highlight one specific actor for their publicly attractive performance that would not have been there without help.
2 comments:
I’ve heard a lot of differing opinions on this that come to the same consensus: there isn’t a very clear solution, but it will require big changes of the awards systems themselves. I like the idea of the joint lead category described in the article, and I’d be curious to see what other new categories they can come up with. Of course, there is always the overarching flaw of awards ceremonies pitting artists against each other, or creating blatant award traps. That’s why I’m glad to see statements like Blanchett’s; after all, it’s the fault of the system, not the individual artists receiving the awards when other people aren’t getting recognized, so it’s good to see artists lift each other up. Ultimately, genderqueer artists are going to continue to not be recognized for as long as there is an absence of genderqueer roles in theatre. In order to see more people get the recognition they deserve, we need more representation.
This article is really interesting when considering the fact that they propose changing awards ceremonies in general, rather than continuing to create “gender neutral” categories. There is absolutely something to get out of gender-neutral awards: it does not frame a specific gender, and allows for flexibility in award nominees. However, with the way that some awards categories are often portrayed, I believe that it really is just better to scrap some of the categories, and replace them with better, more encompassing categories. A lot of roles have a big specificity with presentation, and often portray the actors as solo artists, which is really close-minded, especially when it comes to how that actor got to that spot thanks to designers, directors, and supporting cast members. I wish they would give more group awards in general, and award a really well functioning team over trying to highlight one specific actor for their publicly attractive performance that would not have been there without help.
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