People have been complaining about how the Oscar nominations
again ignored women and people of color, and yesterday I read an article in the
Washington Post about how it wasn’t just particular classes of people being shunned by the
awards, but particular genres of movies. This is not news to me: you only have
to look around to see that any art form that appeals more to women or
minorities is considered less “serious” than those that appeal to straight
white males. Take music, for example. Critics love classic rock, but they tend
to consider dance music “frivolous,” and who usually likes dance music? As far
as I can tell, everyone besides straight white males: women, people of color,
and gay men. Or books – the “classic” authors like Ernest Hemingway write very masculine
literature, while literature that appeals to women is often mocked. Why is
this? Is it because critics have historically been straight white males? Who
decides what is “serious” art worthy of consideration and what is “silly”?
Being a woman with typical feminine tastes along with some masculine ones (I
enjoy war movies), I long ago learned to tune out critics. Who cares if what
you like is deemed great art or not? Go ahead and enjoy it.
Famous Hat
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