Over the last few years, we've seen different awards organizations make a lot of changes to improve in regard to inclusivity. For example, the Oscars have tried to diversify its membership. Other organizations have made other changes, including removing gender distinctions for awards. Now, veteran actor Elliot Page has added his voice of support to the new trend.
Elliot Page is far from the first to suggest that maybe it’s time to retire the concept of gender-specific awards. Various actors, from Bella Ramsey to Hugh Jackman, have argued that gender-neutral awards are an idea whose time has probably come. Page joined the chorus, suggesting to EW that maybe it’s time to move beyond “binary thinking.” He explained…
Yeah, it seems like a good idea. And, again, this sort of unusual aspect of that being the only category, right, where that sort of happens? So, hopefully, we start moving beyond that degree of binary thinking.
The Umbrella Academy star certainly has a point, that acting is the only category where we split nominees by gender. Nobody would think that nominating editors or cinematographers by gender would make any sense. Technically speaking, the skills on display for actors don’t change drastically depending on the gender identity of the performer. The best acting performance of any given year is just as likely to be from anybody, regardless of gender identity.
Of course, acting awards are some of the most important when it comes to the people who actually do watch shows like the Academy Awards, and the Oscars have been dealing with falling viewership for years. So a move that could potentially reduce the number of acting awards given out might not be that popular. Although there are certainly ways to work around that. We could see awards given out based on genre, similar to what the Golden Globes does.
The Academy has taken steps in recent years to attempt to diversify its membership, in order to exemplify a better reflection of the industry as a whole. And certainly removing gender differences in awards would be one way to continue to do that. Removing the distinction would open the door for actors to be nominated who don’t fit neatly into the gender binary. Yellowjackets' Liv Hewson called out the Emmys for not making updates to that effect.
Some awards shows have already removed gender distinctions, though certainly not all have. If the Oscars were to do so, it would certainly send a clear message throughout the industry. It may not be quite the show it once was, but it continues to be the biggest player in the game, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences still has sway.
This is certainly a discussion that isn’t going away anytime soon, so we’ll likely be getting many perspectives in the future from other stars in addition to Elliot Page. It certainly seems unlikely that a major change like this will happen anytime soon, but the fact that it's even being seriously discussed amongst some circles shows how far things have come.
