First Woman Wins Oscar for Best Film

The Oregonian reported today that 6 Oregonians are among 200 female World War II pilots who are to receive the Congressional Gold Medal for their service to the country–only about 60 years late.  These undaunted fliers had to pay their own way to flight school.  If they failed to make it, they had to repay the government for their room and board and travel back home.  If a woman pilot was killed in training, her family had to pay for shipping their loved one’s body back home–and no flag was allowed on the casket.

Eighteen years ago, I was in search for a church.  I interviewed, or pre-candidated, at 10 churches before choosing and being chosen by Portland’s First Unitarian.  And what was one of the questions most commonly asked of me by search committees?  “Do you think you, as a woman, could minister to men?”  (Can you imagine the reverse being asked of a man: “Do you think you, as a man, could minister to women?”)  Portland did not ask this question. 

No doubt about it, women are making gains in all professional fields.  But it is tight at the top.  When I became the Senior Minister of a large church, only one other woman in our denomination had done so, without being married to a male co-minister, at the time.  And let’s look at the top echelons in business today: in 2009 there were15 women CEO’s in Fortune 500 companies, down from 20 in 2006; and there were 28 women in Fortune 1000 companies.

In the film business, no woman has ever won an oscar for best picture–until this year, when Kathryn Bigelow won for “Hurt Locker.”  She was up against her former husband (and friend) James Cameron, who had directed “Avatar,” the best-selling film ever, with over $2.5 billion in tickets worldwide.  “Hurt Locker” was independently financed and sold about $14.7 million in tickets in N. America and and $6.7 overseas. 

The NY Times reported that the filmmakers were so insecure about their film’s financial draw that when the film opened in NY, “the screenwriter, Mark Boal, stood on street corners with his teenage nephew handing out free tickets to passersby with the idea that if they could stack the house, perhaps the theater owners would book it for another week.”  The filmmakers had made the best film they could, proceeding with integrity, not really thinking they could hope for much money or public attention.  Turns out they were wrong.

Between the triumph of Kathryn Bigelow and the African American filmmakers and actors who made the startling good “Precious,” I felt anew the truth that Monique voiced that evening as she accepted her well-deserved award for best supporting actress: “Sometimes you do the right thing, and it’s recognized.”