Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Oscars

Presidential races and Oscar races for Best Director may not seem similar, but in at least two respects, they are.

Presidents are not unlike movie directors --we place our faith in their leadership; we look to both of them to run the show.

It's been 224 years since the United States became an independent nation and 81 years of Academy Awards ceremonies. It cannot be a coincidence that, in all those years, Americans have never elected a female president and Academy members have never chosen a woman for the Best Director Oscar.

We are fast approaching the 82nd Academy Awards show. The nominations for the Oscars will be announced in a matter of days. This year, not one, but, two women directors stand a chance to be nominated: Lone Scherfig for "An Education" and Kathryn Bigelow for "The Hurt Locker." The former is a long shot. The latter might actually be the first woman to win.

Ironically, the director with the greatest odds of beating Bigelow, is James Cameron for "Avator." I say "ironic," not because he is her former husband, but because no other director has done more to positively portray female characters than he. "Avatar," with its global box office cum of nearly 2 billion dollars and much of his previous work ("Aliens," "Terminator 2: Judgment Day" "Dark Angel" and "The Abyss") have helped transform the forces that work against women's achieving anything close to equity -- in film, and, more importantly, in the world-at-large.

[Non-sexist directors, I should add, do come in all genders -- although, inexplicably, male directors of this ilk tend to have first names that begin with "J" (besides James, J.J. Abrams ("Alias," "Fringe") and Joss Whedon ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer"). But, not all of them; Quentin Tarantino ("Kill Bill" and "Inglorious Basterds") also belongs on the list.]

Because of its sheer global reach, "Avatar" bears closer inspection. Cameron, whether he creates a female protagonist (as in "Dark Angel," "Aliens," or "Terminator 2") or a male protagonist, as in "Avatar," always treats his female characters well. Lead characters, main characters, supporting characters -- all of them. By "well," I mean that they are not victimized or otherwise gender stereotyped; they have a point of view which they express freely; they are quite racially diverse, comparatively speaking, and they are unusually powerful in a physical sense -- in fact, they often out-tough and out-power the male characters.

In "Avatar," Sigourney Weaver plays a sardonic, fearless scientist who is in charge with a capital "c." She knows the indigenous population of Pandora better than anyone else. She yells at the corporate sleezebag (Giovanni Ribisi) who pays for her research; she trades barbs with the villainous, wall-to-wall muscled, almost indefeatable Colonel Quaritch; and she treads easily in the lands of Pandora despite its endless supply of deadly flora and fauna. Then, there is Trudy Chacon (Michelle Rodriguez), a bad-ass helicopter pilot who out-machos the other military folks and heroically defies the evil colonel.

There are similar characters in other Cameron flicks. We are introduced to Private Vasquez ("Aliens"), as she does an impressive number of pull-ups; she is also the toughest person, male or female, on screen, and carries the biggest gun. In "The Abyss," One-Night is a black woman who drives machinery on an underwater oil rig -- she is strong, funny and one-of-the boys. No sexual harassment in Cameron's worlds -- the women in non-traditional jobs with gender-bending body language are well-liked and respected.

The most important female character in "Avatar" is Zoe Saldana's Neytiri -- a 10-foot, blue warrior from Pandora. She teaches the protagonist, Jake Sully, (Sam Worthington) how not to be "a baby," as she calls him in their first encounter, when she opts not to kill him. For much of the film, she trains Jake in the ways of the warrior. And she is formidable -- fierce, protective, not to be trifled with -- or betrayed. Even when Jake begins to equal her skill, she is never bested by him --as she would be by the leading man in 99% of the film world.

Jake conquers the fiercest dragon-bird of the land. Neytiri tames the most savage dinosaur beast. He fights the evil colonel -- she shoots the final arrows that kill the colonel. Jake helps lead Neytiri's people to victory. Neytiri rescues Jake, carrying his dying and limp body out of harm's way.

To top it off, the people of Pandora are ruled by a man and a woman. And they worship a female deity, Eywa. Much has been made of the environmental message of the film. Some have spoken about its anti-corporate/anti-imperialist/anti-military message. Not too many write about the radical nature of having, not only a class of male and female warriors, but also a living, breathing goddess who helps the indigenous peoples oust the destructive outsiders.

But, what no one is saying is this: For years, Hollywood has proclaimed that sexism sells. Especially, we are told, in the foreign markets. In "Avatar," I would contend, there is not one sexist moment -- gratuitous or otherwise. And the film has made more money than any other movie since the beginning of motion pictures. In 2D or 3D, despite the less-than-scintiallating dialogue, people all over the world continue to buy "Avatar" tickets in droves. In fact, one could argue that audiences are hungry for a movie that doesn't give us more of the same --especially the same, tired stereotypes.

If Bigelow doesn't win the Oscar for Best Director, it will bite. But, if she loses to Cameron, at least it won't sting quite as much.