Mustang Rambles

Well, the Oscars are finally over. But, the categories got me thinking. It seems that years ago actors were actors and actresses were actresses, but the winds of change made it so women are now also actors. It puts them on an even playing field with the men actors, and rightly so. Great ability and performance on the stage have no exclusivity to either sex. Not like sports, acting is based for the most part on the inner person and the talent for facial expressions. The only difference today between female and male actors are the roles they play, which are written by people who have to gender-specify the characters. So, all things equal, male and female actors have equal abilities.

So,why is there a Best Actor and Best Actress? Is there an inherent difference that I don’t know about? Or, today, when everyone is equal, does it just double the “Best” awards?

Another thing I don’t agree with is separating out the “Best Supporting Actor etc”. For instance, this year, the absolutely best performance by anyone was by Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Bastards. His performance as the delightfully sadistic Jew Hunter SS Officer was incredible. By the time the movie was over, you were amazed at the man’s fluency in four languages, his savoir de faire, his joie de vivre, and his pure ruthless efficiency. I actually began to admire the capabilities of the demonic character he portrayed, and I have absolutely no liking for Nazi anti-semitic policy and the atrocities it caused. No one reached outside themselves more and succeeded in creating a better character than he did.