Are some award categories redundant, and elitist?

[SimonJones96]

Best Animated Feature & Best Foreign Language film

Doesn't having these awards discourage nominating them for best picture? Very few animated and foreign language films get nominated for best picture. This is probably due to the older generation (the average academy member is 63 years old) considering animated films as childish and lesser to live action, which these days is just not true. Furthermore the Academy takes such an American centric approach, and the archaic tule that a single country can only submit one film per year.

Best Actress
Surely isn't separating actresses and actors sexist? It's suggesting that men and women are on a different level of skillset, and therefore requiring separate awards. Wouldn't a unisex best actor award be much better?

[MacSwell]

Having separate awards for men and women isn't remotely sexist.

[SimonJones96]

What if we had "Best White Actor" and "Best Black Actor"

Is that racist, and if yes, how is that any different?

[Pickpocket]

...

has it really come to this

[MacSwell]

What if we had "Best White Actor" and "Best Black Actor"

Is that racist, and if yes, how is that any different?

Having separate awards for men and women ensures both genders are equally represented.

Race isn't a parallel to that, given that many people are a mix of races.

Do you consider it genre-ist that the Golden Globes only have the categories "Comedy/Musical" and "Drama"?

...

has it really come to this

Exactly.

[Suture Self]

IMO we should get rid of award shows altogether and just have hollywood participate in filmed orgies that we can all view on public television. This is a better alternative.

[SimonJones96]

What if we had "Best White Actor" and "Best Black Actor"

Do you consider it genre-ist that the Golden Globes only have the categories "Comedy/Musical" and "Drama"?]

I mean I don't think its a great idea. Genre is a dying idea. Most films are a mix of two or three. The Martian was a drama film that was funny. Hardly a comedy. It sort of seems like a, "well we won't win best drama so let's thow it in as a comedy!"

[CosmicMonkey]

What if we had "Best White Actor" and "Best Black Actor"

Is that racist, and if yes, how is that any different?

Having separate awards for men and women ensures both genders are equally represented.

Race isn't a parallel to that, given that many people are a mix of races.

Yes, but many non-binary trans* people exist as well. They are different concepts with different implications , yes, but just like Race, gender can't be easily segregated into two distinct categories. Under the current system there's no room for a-gendered, genderfluid or other non-binary people to be nominated without automatically misgendering them and denying them part of their own identity, in the same way that having racially-segregated awards would deny mixed/multi-racial people part of their identity as well.

While having gendered categories is indeed sexist, at the same time, acting (and maybe costuming) are the only categories which actually achieve equal gender representation. Since only one-third of all roles in Hollywood films are for women, as well as the Academy having a majority membership of cis-men (who are going to be more likely to identify with the stories of other cis-men), de-segregating the Awards would have the effect of making the majority of Acting Nominees men, and making the Awards have even worse gender-parity than it already does.

So, like, while I support de-segregating the awards, and believe that it will end up happening sometime within my lifespan, it's not going to be a huge victory for feminism unless Hollywood itself is able to become less sexist and dominated by men, which is much bigger, more serious problem anyways than that of any Award show.

And now, since this is the internet, and I had the audacity to mention that trans*-people actually exist, cue all the reactionary transphobic hatespeech by subsequent posters.

[MacSwell]

Yes, but many non-binary trans* people exist as well.

99.999999999% of actors in Hollywood aren't trans though. Can you even name me 3 trans actors? (EDIT: I can only think of Alexis Arquette) This is why it's a non-issue at the moment. It's something that can be examined when it needs to be.

[Stewball]

Non-binary?!?

Sexism, like racism, implies that one is better/more important than the other. The differences between the races are much less different than the differences between men and women, physically and cognitively--which differences were brought about by evolution in order to perpetuate the species. Race evolved only a few million years ago, if that; but sex evolved billions of years ago. The sexual tension between the sexes is what inspires 99% of all drama and and 75% of comedy. Imagine casting a woman to play a man in a homosexual story. The mind boggles. Even back when they used only male actors, those playing women were dressed and acted "female".

Maybe when we can actually sit down and study the differences between the sexes objectively, we can find out what those differences are, and aren't. Of course that's not gonna happen until we evolve past this propensity for political correctness.

*sigh* We're doomed.