High up on his mountain of success, and with absolutely nothing to risk, director Steven Spielberg has officially endorsed affirmative action for women directors at this year’s Academy Awards, saying it will be the “year for a woman director.”
Speaking with “Entertainment Tonight’s” Lauren Zima, Spielberg was asked to comment on Natalie Portman’s classless dig during the Golden Globe Awards, where she sarcastically commented that only males had been nominated for Best Director. According to Spielberg, who sits on the Academy board, women directors should have nothing to fear come Oscar time.
“There’s also a watershed happening right now, slowly, maybe not fast enough, for women directors,” Spielberg noted. “I mean you have Patty Jenkins. We have some amazing women that have come forward, you know ‘Mudbound’ and ‘Lady Bird’. This is a pretty incredible year, and I think you’ll be seeing some nominations. I’m predicting at the Oscars this year for a woman director, if not several.”
Spielberg also tacitly endorsed Oprah Winfrey run for President: “It sure sounded like 2020 to me.”
Spielberg’s position is one of moral cowardice, not just because he endorses the false idea that women should get awards solely on the basis of their gender, but because he risks nothing. Spielberg has twice won the Oscar for Best Director and only once, of those two wins, did he compete with a female nominee — Jane Campion, who directed 1993’s “The Piano,” the year Spielberg won for “Schindler’s List.” When Spielberg won for 1998’s “Saving Private Ryan,” all nominees were male.
Would Spielberg trade either one of those wins so a lady-in-waiting could dance in the spotlight?
Even if Spielberg were to answer “yes” to the above question, that has little consequence. Simply put, it’s too late. Spielberg already has his two Best Director Oscars and he will never give them back. Saying 2018 will be a “year for a woman director” simply translates into “a man should not win this year” and that more men should be excluded from the list of nominees to make way for women.
Is Spielberg willing to go back in a time machine to say the same during the year of “Schindler’s List”? If not, then he should let the directors’ works speak for themselves and not potentially undercut their well-deserved Oscar for the sake of political correctness.