Academy Award Nominations: Sexy or Sexist?

by Imran Siddiquee

The Artist

The Academy of Motion Picture Sciences released their nominations this morning for the 84th Annual Oscars, to be held February 26th in Hollywood, CA. This year they voted 9 films into the Best Picture category, ranging from the popular (The Help) to the lesser seen (likeĀ The Artist). None of the nominees were written or directed by a woman and only one, the aforementioned The Help, features a woman in the starring role and only one, War Horse, has a female producer (Kristin Wiig and Annie Mumolo were nominated for Best Original Screenplay for Bridesmaids).

Best Picture Nominess:

The Artist

The Descendants

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

The Help

Hugo

Midnight in Paris

Moneyball

The Tree of Life

War Horse

The full list of nominations is available here.

So the question becomes, of the 9 anointed films, which do you think includes the best portrayal of gender? Which of them, if any, passes the Bechdel Test? Are any of them especially offensive or positive? Let us know in the comments below!

We’ll be tracking the Academy Awards over on our Sexy or Sexism? blog in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for more in-depth analysis and reporting.