The runup to the Oscars is always filled with intrigue, as nominees try to cast themselves as victims or underdogs. For directing the woke Netflix Western The Power of the Dog, Jane Campion is the obvious choice to win Best Director this year (she would be only the second woman ever to take home the honor, plus the movie is about self-hating homophobia and so can hardly fail to win Best Picture) and got a major boost when her work was dissed by veteran cowboy actor Sam Elliott, who said her film was “a piece of sh**” and indicated he wasn’t fond of the movie’s “allusions to homosexuality.” Elliott looked like a bully (if not a homophobe), so things were looking brilliant for Campion.
But at the Critics Choice Awards last night, Campion made an ill-advised swipe at tennis’s Williams Sisters, who were present because the film about their family, King Richard starring Will Smith, was nominated for several awards (and won Best Actor for its star). Accepting Best Director honors from the critics’ group (don’t blame me; I voted for Kenneth Branagh), Campion rather arrogantly said, “You know, Serena and Venus, you are such marvels. However, you do not play against the guys like I have to.”
Note to Jane Campion: there’s a major biological reason why female athletes don’t usually compete against men in sports: men are bigger, stronger and faster. Female artists face no comparable handicaps.
Campion’s remarks repositioned her as the bully in the final days before Oscar voting, with a Washington Post column, for instance, suggesting Campion had put herself on the wrong side of racial sensitivity. Wrote Sonia Rao:
Many people expressed how unnecessary it was for Campion, a White woman, to compare her experiences of sexism with the uphill battles fought by the Williams sisters, two Black women who have faced unrelenting racism and sexism while working toward remarkable levels of success in tennis, a White-dominated sport.
Suddenly the feminist author of the year’s woke favorite stood charged with being unwoke on race! Battle stations! Campion was forced to backtrack and grovel:
The fact is the Williams sisters have, actually, squared off against men on the court (and off), and they have both raised the bar and opened doors for what is possible for women in this world. The last thing I would ever want to do is minimize remarkable women. I love Serena and Venus. Their accomplishments are titanic and inspiring. Serena and Venus, I apologize and completely celebrate you.
I’m thinking Sam Elliott is having a good laugh at this, but I doubt anything short of a swastika tattoo is going to derail Campion’s Oscar chances.