It's a ritual I love. As a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, I look forward to just before Thanksgiving when all the year's best movies land in my mail box. And I get to watch them at home and then cast my votes for the great performances of the year in movies. Growing up in Hollywood, and working as an actor most of my life, I take this ritual seriously because I know well the work that goes into creating these amazing performances.
What is fresh about this year's movies is the range of choices the actresses had. I was struck by the fact that this year's crop of women have moved into areas previously inhabited by male actors -- and, wow, were they good.
Here's what I mean:
Role reversal. Historically, men love to play women, but rarely do women do the reverse. We've seen Robin Williams as Mrs. Doubtfire, Dustin Hoffman in "Tootsie" even Adam Sandler playing both the brother and sister in his film "Jack and Jill" this year and who could forget Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis as the jazz era floozies in "Some Like it Hot." But you must see Glenn Close and Janet McTeer knock it out of the park - and not for laughs , but very real - in their gender bending performances in "Albert Nobbs."
Buddy movie/gal pals. There have been so many great guy ensemble films, but they're scarce for women. "Bridesmaids" had it all - from the good buddies to the gross-out comedy. And Melissa McCarthy was so brilliantly funny as she moved in on the wild turf once Monopolized by guys like John Belushi and Will Ferrell.
Action. What is also exciting this year is women's effective portrayal of brave, independent-minded characters - and, yes, in the case of Rooney Mara in "Girl with a Dragon Tattoo," not afraid to kick a little ass, too.
So here is a salute to an exceptional group of women who are competing for this year's Oscars. Good work! And good luck!
I can't wait to see the great debate in the comments below. The other thing I love about the movies - everyone is an expert!
Follow Marlo Thomas on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MarloThomas
Uh - why? How is she qualified? She did a TV series more than 40 years ago and had no movie career of any significance. Her Dad was Danny Thomas. This is who decides Oscar nominations?
The Bechdel Test for Women in Movies is a simple way to gauge the active presence of female characters in Hollywood films and just how well rounded and complete those roles are. It was created by Allison Bechdel in her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For in 1985. It is astonishing the number of popular movies that can’t pass this simple test. It demonstrates how women’s complex and interesting lives are underrepresented or non existent in the film industry.
Out of the 9 best picture nominees in 2011, only 2 clearly pass the Bechdel test, while 2 others are questionable about one line. And notably only one film nominated is female centered.
How could this be?
Men are primarily the studio executives, the writers, the directors and the major decision makers in the industry and they tell stories that they can relate to. Not surprisingly this results in most movies focusing on men and men’s stories.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/movies/academy/la-et-unmasking-oscar-academy-project-html,0,7473284.htmlstory
The Motion Motion Picture Academy members were predominately white men over the age of 60; that 94 percent of the 5,765 people responsible for selecting the winners of the prestigious awards were white, 77 percent were men and the median age was 62.
I don't care what Karen Walker says about you Marlo, you are the best!
So I no longer care; the working class has been put on a spike for 30 years, since the late 1970s, and now is bleeding, and if Europe is any indication, it will only go from "terrible" to "hell", our families are destroyed with a divorce rate of over 50% and our kids are now showing the effects of the INSTITUTIONAL neglect imposed when women MUST work to pay the rent, ADD is rampant for example.
Yet you Ms people just go on and on and on as if it were the 1980s! The MAIN reason working class women vote Republican is because of all this, you know?
I am waiting for the movie version of That Girl, starring either Parker Posey or Anne Hathaway.
(Ok, I confess: Had a TV crush on that character when I was a kid.)
I'm in favor of it as long as the nomination list is kept the same or even expanded numerically. (When you expand the competition, it only makes sense to expand the number of finalists even though there would still be only one winner.) Personally, I don't use the word actress and find it ridiculous for many reasons. However. I think the bigger problem for women is that "Best Actor" is still a much more prestigious award than "Best Actress" despite "Best Actress" being promoted as a "separate but equal category." It's ghettoized as being the category of 'Chick flicks', girl movies, and so on and as such considered something that so-called 'real men' don't admit to watching even if they do in fact view the films.
Both the ad industry and sitcoms, which portray men as sexist dolts with little intellectual or emotional depth reveals a great deal about how masculinity is thought of today -- beer, sports, sex, and violence reign supreme. Men are ridiculed but also excused as acting out their 'nature' when they engage in stereotypical behavior. They're presumed gay when they showcase perceived feminine traits like thoughtfulness, intelligence, and emotional engagement. This is to the detriment of both genders but by far women are harmed the most because a woman's status is still less and a dolt male is an exception rather than the rule. The same is not true for women.
It's waaay past time for all of this to change.