On the night that the Spirit Awards were held in their first ceremony with gender-neutral categories, Saturday Night Live picked up the topic in its Weekend Update segment.
“As this year’s awards season begins, there is a growing movement to do away with the gendered categories of Best Actor and Best Actress,” said Colin Jost before delivering the punch line, adding, “And they instead have Best Actor and.” “Best Paid Actor” to name less.”
Though SNL has made category names easy, the conversation about gender-neutral categories at awards shows is real. Earlier this year, director Sam Mendes said it was “inevitable.”
“I totally understand that, yes, and I think it might end up being inevitable,” he said in a BBC interview. “I think that’s the way it moves and I think it’s perfectly reasonable.”
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Mendes added, “To me, with awards, people forget, I think that happens all the time, they use it as a guard rail for the industry, but the truth is, awards are a television show,” he continued. “You know, awards are there to promote films. If this film wins an award, I’m more likely to go and see it, and that’s what you’re doing there. It’s not about yourself, it’s not about the art or craft of the industry, especially not selling movies.”
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Emma Corrin, who identifies as non-binary and uses she/them pronouns, hopes awards shows will do away with gendered categories.
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“I’m hoping for a future where that happens,” they told BBC News in November. “I think the categories are not comprehensive enough at the moment.”
Check out the part of the weekend update with the joke about gender neutral awards in the show categories above and the other segment below.