Only one "woke" at a time

by Deborah Lipp

One of Oscar's best moments. Iranian-American engineer Anousheh Ansari accepting on behalf of protesting Asghar Farhadi

If I may use this year’s vernacular, Oscars are woke. Except, well, they can only be woke about one thing at a time. Last year after the Oscars, I wrote about the powerful “spotlight” (see what I did there?) the Oscars brought to the issue of rape and sexual violence. And I’m going to acknowledge, that yes, that was amazing. 

But rape is so last year.

This year was all about diversity and inclusion. Those are wonderful topics, those are topics that matter to me. The diversity was beautiful to see. The powerful immigrant voices—from Iran, Mexico, and Italy, among other nations—moved me. It was important that people of color were not merely supporting characters—even though the winners were in the Supporting categories, they supported other people of color...

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Director Richard Linklater Fights Against Anti-Transgender Bathroom Bills With PSA

If you thought the gorgeous cadre of jocks in Everybody Wants Some!! was the extent of what Texan ally Richard Linklater had to offer in all things LGBT this past year, be sure to take a look at his recent PSA: "Taking A Seat, Making A Stand." Acting in solidarity with the transgender community, he steps up his game with his most recent project in a major way. Linklater teamed up with the I Pee With LGBT campaign to produce this bright and sharp comic short in response to the anti-transgender bathroom bill that’s currently awaiting a vote in the Texas legislature – S.B. 6, for those keeping track of the insidious discrimination measures spreading across America’s statehouses. As President Trump reverses course on establishing federal protections for transgender minors, this urgent, inclusively common sense message speaks to our shared humanity in the face of hate, and deserves to be loudly repeated more and more by the day.

What role do you think players in the motion picture industry should take within the climate of today’s increasingly omnipresent political landscape?

Tweet Story: Huppert, Gibson, Barbarella

One great thing to watch right now: PERSEPOLIS. It's vital that we make the stories of immigrants feel specific and real and human to us. pic.twitter.com/92ySv37Emp

— BrightWall/DarkRoom (@BWDR) January 28, 2017

Thought about what would happen if Isabelle Huppert had to reveal a hidden talent for a mag's video content, laughed, and then shuddered.

— Jackson McHenry (@McHenryJD) January 27, 2017

After the jump a gorgeous mini-review of 20th Century Women, a valid question about Barbarella, a fantasy about female auteurs, and more amusements... 

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29 Days until Oscar

29 is the number of the day. It's also the most common age for Best Actress winners. That's quite something if you consider that the youngest best actor winner of all time was 29 and just a month shy of his 30th (Adrien Brody, The Pianist). The gender bias that preferences young actresses and older men gets even worse when you realize that HALF of all Best Actress winners won by the age of 33. Less than 10% of Best Actor winners were 33 and under. The eight women who won at 29 are...

Emma Stone is the youngest Best Actress nominee this year at 28 and expected to win by most pundits. Stone is the same age now as the following winners were: Norma Shearer in The Divorcee, Joanne Woodward in The Three Faces of Eve, Luise Rainer in The Good Earth and Charlize Theron in Monster.

Curiously there is no "most common age" for Best Actors (spread out fairly evenly from mid 30s to mid 40s) or Best Supporting Actress (all over the place). The most common age for Supporting Actor winners is 46 (seven winners).

Numbers. Oscars. Numbers. Oscars...

If you love Oscars too much (*raises hands*) your head can get a little swimmy on Oscar nomination day, trying to parse it all. Particularly the numbers and the new statistics. This could take some time. But here are some non-subjective hierarchies and numbers and stats from the day.

We'll start with the easy one.

Most Nominations

1. La La Land (14)
2. [tie] Moonlight and Arrival (8)
3. [tie] Hacksaw Ridge and Lion and Manchester by the Sea (6)
4. Fences (4)
5. Hidden Figures and Jackie (3)
   
   NOTE: Jackie marks the second year in a row wherein a "chilly" gorgeous movie about a complicated woman wins the distinction of "most nominated movie that isn't nominated for Best Picture" -- coincidence? Nope.

5 of past 6 years film w/ most noms that wasn't up for Best Pic was a chilly beauty about complex woman. Coincidence? I think not. #Oscars pic.twitter.com/fRFZXaflsb

— Nathaniel Rogers (@nathanielr) January 24, 2017

Category with Most First Timers!
(excluding categories with too way many names to look up like producing, visual fx, sound,song, and makeup) 

1. Adapted Screenplay (5/5 nominees are newbies to Oscar)
2. [tie] Original Score and Cinematography (4/5 nominees are newbies to Oscar)
3. Best Director (4/5 nominees are first timers in this particular category though some have been nominated in other categories)
4. Best Supporting Actor (3/5 nominees are newbies to Oscar)
5. Original Screenplay (3/5 nominees are first time nominees for writing) 

Other Curious Statistics after the jump...

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