bstempleton (04/06/83)
There's been talk of nominating Julie Andrews for Best Actor and Dustin Hoffman for Best Actress, but what do you do in a case like the new film, "The Year of Living Dangerously". One of the two male lead characters (the other is played by Mel Gibson, the Road Warrior) named Billy is actually played by a woman, whose name is Linda something_I_can't_recall. The part is a short Australian Chinaman, and the acting is quite good. I did not know until the credits that the actor was an actress. So the question is, if you were to nominate this person for an oscar, what would she get? Perhaps this means that the actor/actress distinction in awards should go the way of the dodo, because it's a bit sexist?
hansen (04/06/83)
I don't think it's all that complicated: Linda Hunt Actress Dustin Hoffman Actor Julie Andrews Actress Actors and actresses play many roles, but we don't have catagories for best cowboy actor/actress, best wino actor/actress, best knucklehead actor/actress. Why does anyone seriously think we need to distinguish the roles these three people played any differently? My recollection is that the nomination of Dustin Hoffman as best actress started as a joke. Craig Hansen HP Labs
heliotis (04/08/83)
I'm sorry, but if we're not out to discriminate, then yes, why differentiate between men and women? Does one sex have a genetically tougher time acting than the other (as perhaps could be argued for say, football)? I'll bet the main reason that these sexist categories don't get eliminated is that only half the number of people could win acting awards (HEY! We might get to bed a little earlier!). Jim Heliotis
bstempleton (04/10/83)
Actually, I think the main reason for the seperate oscars is based on the idea of the romantic movie. Just about every film was about men, but there was usually a female who played the love interest of the male star. On rare occasions it was the other way around. Even today there are lots more male dominated movies than female dominated ones, although films with equal ratios are more common. It's still common practice for the female star with the largest role in a mostly male movie to get top billing right after the main male star, even if her role is much smaller than several of the "supporting actors". Still, I'm all for abolishing the categories