The Crown Star Wants To Eliminate Award Categories In Favor Of Gender Neutral Ones
In a recent interview with BBC News, Emma Corrin, known for acting in the Netflix original series, The Crown, is calling for best actor and actress film award categories to be gender neutral. This act would make the awards categories more inclusive to stars who identify themselves in categories other than male and female.
Emma Corrin portrays female characters in her work but identifies as non-binary, using they/them pronouns. They believe the categories of best actor and best actress aren’t inclusive of everyone in today’s climate. That a single gender neutral category would solve this issue.
Both BAFTA and Academy representatives have stated that they are engaging in conversation about this subject. Emma Corrin has accepted a Golden Globe and was nominated for an Emmy for their performance as Princess Diana in the fourth season of The Crown. This was at a time when they were still accepting of she/her pronouns. Now, she is calling for a change to the gender neutral categories.
Others, along with Emma Corrin, have been vocal about changes to the gender neutral categories. The Grammy’s is one organization that implemented this change years ago in 2012. The MTV Movie & TV Award also made this change in 2017.
Adele is the first artist to receive the newly created category as the Brit Awards merged the categories into an artist of the year category. Adele noted in her acceptance speech that she understands the reasons for the name change, but she is proud to be a woman artist.
Emma Corrin will star in two major films this year, My Policeman and Lady Chatterley’s Lover, in which they portray women characters. In the interview with BBC News, she stated it is hard to justify being non-binary but nominated in female categories. The gender neutral designation for the awards would solve this dilemma.
Others joining the change that Emma Corrin recommends from gender-specific awards include the Independent Spirit Awards, which will begin in 2023, the Berlin International Film Festival, which dropped the genders from their awards in 2021, and the Gotham Awards will begin in their next awards ceremony in New York City.
The question remains as to whether the Oscars, Golden Globes, Emmys, and other awards will follow suit, with high-profile stars like Emma Corrin and others weighing in on the gender neutral designations. Many of the awards do allow the performer to choose the actor or actress for their category, but it makes it difficult for those who identify as neither. It is felt that by being forced to choose a category that doesn’t represent them, they are abandoning their identity and the community which they represent.
With all of the talk of inclusion and representation, Emma Corrin wonders whether the designations of the awards are as important as the roles being played. The real discussion that needs to be had is about the material and content available to non-binary, queer, trans, and others. This would make more sense to see the categories altered to reflect gender neutral roles.
