Selected Columns
Kaleidoscope of the Heart: Moving toward an era where being a woman is a moot point
At the Academy Awards this year, the Oscar for best film went to "Hurt Locker," and the movie's director, Kathryn Bigelow also won an Oscar for her directing. Bigelow's is a sober film about the brutal realities and woes of soldiers in a U.S. bomb squad in Iraq, and as it turns out, Bigelow is the first woman to win an Academy Award for the category of best director.
There was an intense media spotlight on the fact that Bigelow is a woman and that she is the former wife of James Cameron, director of "Avatar," which was considered a front-runner for the Oscar. Some headlines even referred to the films' nominations as a "battle" between "ex-wife and ex-husband."
But at no point in her acceptance speech did Bigelow yell, "I'm ecstatic to have won against my ex-husband!"
She didn't even come close to saying as much. Instead, she said, "I'd like to dedicate this to men and women all over the world who ... wear a uniform, not just the military -- HazMat, emergency, firemen. They are there for us, and we are there for them."
When asked about her reluctance to call herself a "female director" at a subsequent press conference, she said, "First of all, I hope I'm the first of many (females). And of course I'd love to just think of myself as a filmmaker, and I wait for the day when the modifier can be a moot point."
What she was saying was that she doesn't think of herself first and foremost as a female director but a director, and that she doesn't make her films especially for a female audience, either. Her attitude has a hint of bravado to it, but it's still really cool.
Japanese magazines today inundate us with the message that women should be "womanly." They tell us that we must be "feminine and cute" and that being "liked by men is a woman's true happiness," and it is not rare for women to openly profess that they are looking to find rich men to marry.
Some people take a positive view of such phenomena, saying that it is the result of a society that has achieved gender equality, in which women now have the freedom or leeway to enjoy fashion. In the consultation room, however, more than a few women sigh and talk about the setbacks they suffer from running into walls of male-domination, whether it be in their studies or careers, wondering if the only option they really have is to put on a feminine front and marry. It's just a bit too sad to have to compromise with such harsh realities and pursue "femininity" out of despair.
Enjoying fashion that makes men swoon and flaunting one's femininity is fine. But if you're a 21st-century woman with a heart, it might be worth showing some attitude and telling others that the fact that you're a woman is a moot point.
Not everyone is as talented or as strong as Bigelow, of course. But I think that her hard-hitting style is something worth emulating. (By Rika Kayama, psychiatrist)
Click here for the original Japanese story
(Mainichi Japan) March 21, 2010