Kulturkampf

[benji]

And yet, there’s something about the idea of an Oppenheimer win that feels strangely backwards-facing.

Oppenheimer, so the argument goes, is a film for men. Perhaps intensified by its strange and ubiquitous juxtaposition with the women-led Barbie, Nolan’s film has been scrutinised extensively through the lens of gender. No matter how reductive this assertion may be – that Nolan’s film is simply “one for the boys” – it’s hard to deny there’s a degree of truth to it. The few female roles that Oppenheimer does feature are hardly forefronted: Emily Blunt’s Kitty Oppenheimer never quite feels three-dimensional, and Florence Pugh makes the most of scant screentime as “other woman” Jean Tatlock. The roster of significant male characters, meanwhile, is deep and illustrious. Murphy fronts a cast that includes Robert Downey Jr, Matt Damon, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Jason Clarke, David Krumholtz, Rami Malek, Matthew Modine, Gary Oldman and Kenneth Branagh. Match this with Oppenheimer’s stereotypically male subject matter – bombs and the evils of war – and it’s easy to see why the film has been pigeonholed as a quintessential “dad movie”.

The 1970s saw a historic run of “dad movie” supremacy, with Patton, The French Connection, The Godfather, The Sting, The Godfather Part II, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Rocky taking the top gongs across seven consecutive years.

 

Best part though is:

The past few years have seen a change in the make-up of Oscar winners, one driven by an expansion and diversification of the Academy’s voting base. A number of significant milestones have rattled by: first foreign-language film to win Best Picture (Parasite), first Asian woman to win Best Director (Nomadland’s Chloe Zhao); first deaf actor to win an award (CODA’s Troy Kotsur).

allium
12 days ago
Troy Kotsur wasn't the first deaf actor to win an award; Marlee Matlin won an Oscar in 1987. Bit of an odd omission given the article's criticims of "men centric" movies.

It was for Best Actress too.