Chloe Zhao: The First Female Asian Director to Win an Academy Award

The Oscars have been around since 1929. Every year, awards are handed out for excellence in filmmaking. Movies like Gladiator and The Godfather have made names for their accompanying acts, even making some of them award season favorites like Ridley Scott, Francis Ford Coppola, Christopher Nolan, James Cameron and Martin Scorsese. So why did it take almost 100 years and a pandemic to see an Oscar go to an Asian female director? It's hard to say.

Broken down, it's sadly apparent that she had very little in the way of competition. It was a fairly even playing field, with most nominees being of similar backgrounds and accomplishment save for David Fincher, though his film Mank was less than wooing. Even seeing two female directors nominated was jaw dropping. But without the pandemic, it's fair to believe Chloe Zhao may not have even seen a nomination. Bigger releases from award show favorites would have pushed her straight into anonymity, with Nomadland taking a backseat to her male-led counterparts. And why? Because she doesn't have seniority.

This year's Oscars were a step in the right direction with acceptance of diversity and different voices, but it was also the first year that they had no other choice. Waiting until there aren't any other more appealing options is a far cry from the right way to expand horizons and offer inclusion.

That's not to knock Chloe Zhao in the slightest. Her feats in filmmaking are phenomenal and inspirational, and young girls and women alike now have a role model upon whom we can base our own goals and ambitions. I wish I could have seen her succeed in my younger years. It may have encouraged me to try harder and not give up for periods of time. Her history in film and work behind the camera is nothing short of wonderful.

But let's not forget that she isn't the first woman to have done such amazing things.

Unfortunately, women have been working behind the scenes for years, crafting stories of excellence and sharing their visions with the world, only to be shunned because she simply cannot measure up to the favoritism of the Academy and the awards season. Where's the Best Director Oscar for Sofia Coppola? Patty Jenkins? Ava DuVernay? And why was Kathryn Bigelow the first woman to win the award in 2009 when so many other women had come before her? In 93 years, only two women have ever won Best Director. Two. That means 91 men have taken home the same award. And that's just ridiculous.

See for yourself. Check out the complete list of winners from 1929 through now here.

Women deserve the same opportunities as men. No person in the industry should be entitled to a nomination or a statue simply because of their previous work. Every year should present a clean slate onto which talent can be painted. No one should be competing with Goodfellas, Schindler's List or Inception. The judgment of each year should be solely based upon that years input, and nothing more, so that there is more than enough equal opportunity for all genders and races.

Considering many of these "favorites" come from times when women weren't allowed the same opportunities, it's truly unfair to gauge a woman's success and accomplishment in comparison to the man who won 20 years ago. Those who have won multiple times have been winning since before women were afforded equality in filmmaking. Back when James Cameron won his first Best Director Oscar, a woman of the same ability was being beaten down and discarded. For every man who has won, there's been a woman who could have accomplished the same, had she been given equal opportunities. So to say Martin Scorsese deserves an Oscar nomination now because he did Taxi Driver 45 years ago, is to say he deserves it because he was given the ability to be a filmmaker 45 years ago.

In fact, the 1970s were the first decade in which women were starting out in filmmaking, and it was slow-going at best. You can read more about the struggles they faced here.

Women haven't been given that same luxury. Ask yourself this; would The Irishman have received as many nominations at the 2020 Oscars if not for Martin Scorsese? What if it had been directed by Chloe Zhao? The truthful answer is, probably not. You more than likely wouldn't have even heard of the film.

For far too many years, Hollywood has placed importance upon seniority, and yet those with seniority are all of the same race and gender. How many "Hollywood greats" are women? Why, as a young girl, were my only role models men?

It was so blatantly obvious that I was even discouraged from pursuing a career behind the camera. I was told that so few women were ever successful as directors that I should instead consider pursuing a career as an actress. But that didn't stop me. Despite the obvious blockades ahead of me, I forged onward, relying on my own vision and knowing that I was no different than Quentin Tarantino or Michael Mann simply because I was a woman. And now it's time that the world realized the same thing.

While Chloe Zhao taking home the Oscar for Best Director is groundbreaking, it's also rather disheartening to know it took this long to make such a decision, and that it was made in a year when film and cinema was struggling to even have nominees. Women have been making movies for years. It shouldn’t have taken this long to realize they’re capable of greatness.

We can do better.

We deserve better.