02 February 2010

Congratulations, Kathryn Bigelow!


I'm very excited that Kathryn Bigelow has won the Director's Guild of America award for best director. She also directed one of the best vampire movies ever, Near Dark. She kicks ass as a director, and I love that she is the first female to ever win this award. I know, awards are stupid, but finally a female has won. This is important, especially since so many articles insist upon referring to her as James Cameron's ex-wife.

Yes, she is is ex-wife. Who cares? How is this relevant? Maybe they see it is significant because she is competing against him for the best directing Oscar, but I think the way their former relationship is characterized is interesting. Or stupid. Why not refer to him as her ex-husband? That is equally accurate. I think the reason they keep calling Bigelow his ex-wife is that they are unconsciously reminding women that our true value in life is to whom we are married (or owned by).

Here's a few examples: admittedly not all use this formulation!

Village Voice: James Cameron's biggest mission these days should be to beat his ex-wife, Kathryn Bigelow, for a slew of awards!

Publicola: Bigelow is competing in Best Director and Best Film categories with her ex-husband, James Cameron, in a cinematic David-and-Goliath story with a gendered twist.

Daily Mail: James Cameron may be among the favourites for Oscar glory, but he has some tough competition from none other than his ex-wife.

The Times Online: And now only one thing stands between James Cameron and his chance to win the Oscar for Best Director at this year’s Academy Awards: his former wife.

No comments: