The Oscars has never really interested me, the choice of films up for nomination tend to be too similar and the hype seems over justified. This year’s best film, Birdman, by Mexican Director Alejandro González Iñárritu was one of the more deserving winners in a list filled with the usual biographical fare. Despite this, Eddie Redmayne’s best actor win for his portrayal of Stephen Hawking in The Theory Of Everything lived up to my usual expectations. Furthermore, the reaction to his win shows a trend within the British media to back our fellow countrymen and woman whether they deserve it or not.
I have no personal qualms with Redmayne – he seems like a genuine person and comes across well in interviews – but his rise to stardom has followed a well worn path trodden by British actors from private schools (he attended Eton alongside Tom Huddleston and Prince William) to private parties and stardom. These words were echoed recently by Judi Dench, who said she receives hundreds of letters from aspiring actors and actresses who simply cannot afford drama school or working without pay as many have to do for ‘experience’. She said she fears that “financial barriers are making the acting profession more elitist”.
The morning after the Oscars ceremony, the BBC was rife with praise for British wins in Hollywood (with Redmayne being the main attraction). On Radio 2, Chris Evans continued this and also lamented how boring Birdman was and how it was ‘Oscar Bait’ because it was about acting. One of his guests simply stated that people should avoid it at all costs. Although Birdman isn’t perfect it is one of the most inventive and ambitious films of the year, full of fantastic performances and a refreshing cinematic approach. In contrast, The Theory Of Everything fits into the most common Oscar stereotype – a biographical drama featuring a white lead. If you look back at the previous nominees, the lists are filled with them – The Kings Speech, Lincoln, Moneyball, Dallas Buyer’s Club, the list goes on. I’m all for television and radio personalities being allowed to express more of an opinion but I simply disagree with their points and find that it will probably stop people watching a very good film.
Someone who wasn’t mentioned much after the ceremony was David Oyelowo, the British actor chosen to portray Martin Luther King in Selma, he missed out to Redmayne (the film’s director Ava DuVernay, wasn’t even nominated for the best director category along with any other female directors). Oyelowo is a prime example of another problem in the British film Industry – The lack of work for minorities beyond the stereotypical fare. The amount of black British talent involved in US films is fantastic from Steve McQueen’s 12 Years A Slave starring Chiwetel Ejiofor to Richard Ayoade’s The Double.
What isn’t fantastic is the way that many feel they have to move away from their home country to tell their stories. Oyelowo recently said to the Guardian “I loved living in the UK, and it’s still my home. But it became clear I wasn’t going to be able to tell the stories I wanted to tell. When I went to British film investors with stories of the black experience in a historical context, I was told verbatim: ‘We’re looking for Dickens or Austen. Your story is a hard sell.”
It seems as if that classic stereotype, one of the upper class English gent, promoted in bygone eras and now archaic and hardly relevant to most of British society is very much alive in our film industry. Not only this but it is celebrated by the media, given awards and actively searched for by industry leaders. It leaves little room for anyone else, and by that I mean the vast majority of people – those who aren’t of the right appearance or don’t fit into the right tax bracket. It is a glaring example of modern day inequality and a microcosm for British society at large.
So, despite the celebrations on the BBC, perhaps we should work harder at improving conditions for those trying to work in film in Britain and try not to dismiss the work of hugely celebrated film directors such as Iñárritu who is the first Mexican director ever to win a best picture Oscar.We have a lot more to work on before we start boasting about how important the British film industry really is.
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