The Oscars Open Two New Categories for the 2024 Awards
The Academy Awards are often a highlight for film lovers everywhere. The most recent awards ceremony early this month awarded a record number of women and people of color. Because it is often critiqued due to the white and male monolithic award winners, film lovers were ecstatic to see the list of winners this year. For example, the predominately Asian cast of Everything Everywhere All at Once won seven of the eleven Oscar nominations this past ceremony. The film’s lead actress, Michelle Yeoh, was the first Asian woman to win Best Actress.
This next year, in order to keep up the momentum of representation, the Academy has opened two new categories: Best Death and Best Cancelled in Production. The Academy hopes that these new categories will overwhelmingly increase the amount of LGBTQIA+ representation at the awards. So far, there has been a significant lack of Queer wins at the Oscars. Most notably, the film Moonlight won Best Picture in 2016; the film features Queer characters and love stories. Additionally, Elton John has won two Oscars for Best Original Song (1995 and 2020), and Melissa Etheridge and Sam Smith won once each for Best Original Song (2017 and 2016, respectively). There are others, but not many.
The Academy announced the new categories in the following press release:
We at the Academy are always looking for ways to ensure that the Oscars are
representative of all groups. After much discussion amongst each other, we have concluded the best way to give representation to Queer stories is to make categories specifically catered to how these stories are often presented. We are proud to open two new categories: Best Death and Best Cancelled in Production. These two categories are aimed at the beautiful and reoccurring LGBTQ+ stories. The issue with the past Academy Awards and Queer representation is that often when there are Queer characters in films, they tend to die, either from outside causes or from suicide. Additionally, many talented filmmakers have attempted to tell Queer stories, and they are, unfortunately, capped in production. We at the Academy believe this is where the Sapphic Love stories end up, as we are not sure we’ve ever seen one successfully told in film. (Academy Rep, AiHait Gaies)
We here at the Congo are ecstatic to see the efforts put forth by the Academy to represent Queer characters. By one reporter’s count, there are “257 Academy Award-nominated portrayals of heterosexual characters, and 23 of gay, bisexual or transsexual characters. Of the heterosexual characters, 16.5% (59) die. Of the LGBT characters, 56.5% (13) die. Of the 10 LGBT characters who live, only four get happy endings.” As a Bisexual writer myself, I am very appreciative of the celebration of killing Queer characters and representing the stories that never got to be told. We hope that other Awards Ceremonies will follow suit, specifically the Emmys, where dozens of Queer shows have been canceled in the last decade, including I am Not Okay With This, First Kill, The Wilds, One Day at a Time, Willow, and The Owl House. All of these shows show Sapphic relationships, and most did not make it past the first season, despite gaining a large cult following. As a fan of all of these, I hope that they can win an award despite getting canceled. The category will surely be crowded with Queer stories! How beautiful … a lovely win for the LGBTQIA+ community!
