Question of the week: what is the significance of Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar win?

10 March 2010 Rob Buckley Film 4 Comments

So I’ve been a fan of Kathryn Bigelow for a long time – in fact, ever since she was on Howard Schuman’s Moving Pictures back in the early 90s, giving a breakdown of that famous chase scene in Point Break. I’m delighted that she’s won the Oscar for Best Director this week for Hurt Locker, making her the first female director ever to win that award.

But this week’s question is:

Is Kathryn Bigelow’s win significant?

Obviously, it’s a significant first. But is Hollywood going to change as a result? Are more female directors going to be given breaks? Is it merely just a sign that the industry has already changed? Could it even have a bad effect, letting producers and studios think progress is being made now, so not putting so much effort in in future? Or is it simply that the best director won the award this year and there’s no greater significance to it than that?

As always, leave a comment with your answer or a link to your answer on your own blog.

Author

  • Rob Buckley

    I’m Rob Buckley, a journalist who writes for UK media magazines that most people have never heard of although you might have heard me on the podcast Lockdown Land or Radio 5 Live’s Saturday Edition or Afternoon Edition. I’ve edited Dreamwatch, Sprocket and Cambridge Film Festival Daily; been technical editor for TV producers magazine Televisual; reviewed films for the short-lived newspaper Cambridge Insider; written features for the even shorter-lived newspaper Soho Independent; and was regularly sarcastic about television on the blink-and-you-missed-it “web site for urban hedonists” The Tribe. Since going freelance, I've contributed to the likes of Broadcast, Total Content + Media, Action TV, Off The Telly, Action Network, TV Scoop and The Custard TV.

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