Cinema is an industry that investors think is about returning money. It does not matter to them whether the protagonist is female or male, what matters to them is the audience that pays to watch the film. Regularly, the more viewers, the more the film sells, and the more the studios make a profit. Therefore, it is up to the filmmakers and society whether women play a decisive role in the cinema or men.
Like in the music industry, the popularity of female stars shows that women’s activity in pop music is expanding day by day. So they have more presence in festivals such as the GRAMMYs. But the large number and popularity of the stars do not always indicate the quality of their work.
Recently, Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian, the co-heads of the Berlin Film Festival in 2021, announced that from now on, the Silver Bear Awards in the acting category will be defined in a gender-neutral way for Best Leading Performance and Best Supporting Performance.
With this announcement from the festival organizers, the Berlinale will become the first major international festival in the world to make such a change in its acting awards based on gender. But before the Berlinale, other award shows, such as the MTV Movie & TV Awards, had changed that, and Emma Watson was the first actress to win a gender-neutral award.
Prior to this event, the National Academy of Television Arts and Science or the Television Critics Awards were held in a gender-neutral way. However, this is the first time that a major festival on the scale of Cannes, Venice, the Golden Globes, and the Oscars has seen such a fundamental change, and it is a great breakthrough in the film industry.
Many critics believe that these changes will disadvantage female actors, because the most important and great roles are written for male actors, and women face essential problems. For example, most roles for women are in the younger age groups and there are few roles written for middle-aged or older women. This is not the case for men, and the variety of roles is greater. As a result, women will have less chance of receiving an award, and festivals will become a place for men.
On the other hand, we should not forget that the awarding of these prizes is not only for men and women but also for supporting non-binary actors. That is, those who do not fall into either category and have been ignored in all previous years.
A few years ago, Asia Kate Dillon protested in a letter, saying they did not know which category they belonged to. “There is no room for my identity within that award system binary,” Dillon wrote in their letter. “Furthermore, if the categories of ‘actor’ and ‘actress’ are meant to denote assigned sex I ask, respectfully, why is that necessary?”
Acting is directly related to creativity, and great actors are those who can convey the emotions of the character deeply to the audience. Creativity does not recognize gender.
This is also true in other careers such as directors, scene designers, screenwriters, make-up artists, and more. Other prestigious awards that do not discriminate on the basis of gender include the Pulitzer Prize, the Booker Prize, and the Nobel Prizes. So why not in cinema and especially in acting?
It is true that cinema influences society and culture, but it also is affected by culture. These changes are inevitable and the appropriate context has been provided in society for these changes. That is, there have been many cultural changes in human societies that are different in the last hundred – or even ten – years, and festivals cannot ignore these. We must evaluate the effect of these changes mutually. As the festival directors said, not separating the awards in the acting field according to gender comprises a signal for a more gender-sensitive awareness in the film industry.
Interestingly, prominent actors such as Cate Blanchett and Tilda Swinton also welcomed the change and consider it positive. “I’m of a generation where the word “actress” was used always in a pejorative sense. So I think I claim the other space,” Blanchett said. “I think good performances are good performances, no matter the sexual orientation of the performers who are making them.”
“I’m really happy to hear that about Berlin,” Swinton said, joining Blanchett in welcoming the move. “And I think it’s pretty much inevitable that everybody will follow, because it’s just obvious to me.”
It is predictable that the share of men receiving awards will be higher in the coming years, but this does not mean ignoring or marginalizing women. It is simply admitting that we need more challenging roles for females or other genders. In addition, it does not matter if there are more men nominated. What is important is to evaluate the quality of performances, because even if only one actress (or I must say actor from now on) is nominated for an award, she or they can beat other opponents and win.
We must not forget that change does not happen overnight, and it takes time. Therefore, these changes in festivals, such as Berlinale, should be considered positive and as the first steps for bigger changes. Festivals should support women, but this support should not be at the expense of ignoring non-binary genders. All people have rights and this could also lead to better performances.
Image credit: Pedro