2017 and 2018 have been groundbreaking years for activism. So many movements have been reaching global success, thanks to social media. Now that it’s award season, female presenters and celebrities have been using the ceremonies as a chance to stand up, knowing that their voices will be heard. Sunday, March 4th, 2018, during the Academy Awards, many female celebrities were using their platform to speak out against gender inequality. One celebrity, in particular, thought it would be a good idea to dismiss the male nominees while presenting the award for best director. To put it nicely, people were not having it.
While presenting the academy award for best director, actress Emma Stone dismissed the male nominees and only announced Greta Gerwig. I found her statement very problematic and here’s why: Before presenting the award for best film, Emma said, “these four men and Greta Gerwig created their own masterpieces this year.” Apparently, Emma was trying to highlight the lack of women nominated seeing that there was only one woman nominated alongside four men for Best Director. What she failed to realize is that she was dismissing two actors that are minorities and marginalized as well (Jordan Peele and Guillermo del Toro). Viewers ran to Twitter and began to call out Emma Stone for her lack of acknowledgment toward intersectional feminism. For those unfamiliar with the term, intersectional feminism is a form of feminism that’s inclusive of every race and gender. Intersectional feminism acknowledges the discrimination against every marginalized group instead of focusing on just one. So, when Emma Stone chose to highlight Lady Bird director Greta Gerwig as the only female director and left out two minorities, many found her statement problematic because it lacked inclusion. This year alone people of color are finally getting recognized for the talents within our community. Jordan Peele (director of Get Out) is only the fifth black person in history to be recognized for such award in the Best Director category. Jordan also made history at the Academy Awards for being the first African American to win the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay.
While scrolling through the Academy Awards hashtag, I saw a lot of tweets regarding this topic. Some praised Emma for calling out the Academy Awards, while others didn’t think intersectional feminism should include men. In my opinion, I feel as though Emma missed the mark in what she was trying to achieve and must’ve forgotten men of color are oppressed too. It’s disappointing that in 2018 there was only one female nominated for Best Director alongside four men. Trying to call out the gender inequality is the right thing to do, however, why put one minority down in order to promote another? For years the struggles people of color have been facing were seen as insignificant. Our stories and voices were left unheard by many. Instead of calling out the Academy Awards for nominating one woman, Emma should’ve used her platform to speak out against the lack of inclusiveness for every marginalized group.