Why Lady Bird is the most secretly divisive Oscar “snub” of the year
Was Lady Bird snubbed at the Oscars, or is it just a rip-off of Real Woman Have Curves? Audiences are divided, but you wouldn’t know it by the press coverage.
The internet is still awash in meme-filled indignation over Lady Bird. The debut Greta Gerwig film left the Oscars empty-handed, even after scoring five nominations. Days later, and the snubbing still does not sit well with fans, who are fired up and calling for justice for their “hella tight” film.
In all the clamor and outrage, it’s easy to miss that Lady Bird was actually one of the most secretly divisive films of the year.
Interestingly, critics aren’t arguing that it’s a bad film, but that it’d only be groundbreaking and Oscar-worthy in a vacuum where no other coming of age movies existed. In an angst-less alternative universe where An Education, Looking for Alibrandi, The Edge of Seventeen and, most importantly, Real Women Have Curves did not exist, the movie could have a better shot.
It’s been called a teen “dramady” like no other and accused of plagiarism to the point that the creator of Real Women, Josefina López, publicly addressed the movies’ similarities — as well as the painful disparity in recognition — in an interview in Spanish with Hoy Los Angeles.
“I enjoyed it and at moments kept thinking, ‘Wow, the mother is like the mom in my movie. Wow, they aren’t going to let her go to college, like Ana,’” López said in the Hoy interview.
“I also deserve a place in Hollywood and the opportunity to continue telling impactful stories. I co-wrote a better version of Lady Bird that challenges the status quo.”
So was it the best-reviewed film of all-time or the most “overrated” Oscar nominee, according to a BBC study? Opinions are wildly divided; the gap is only widening post-Oscars, a fact that has gone seemingly unnoticed in the mainstream press and outside the Latinx community — but not by Twitter.
The biggest disappointment of the night is that #LadyBird didn't win any #Oscars. pic.twitter.com/zXzrfBixxV
— Ramin Setoodeh (@RaminSetoodeh) March 5, 2018
lady bird is so spectacular in that thousands of teenage girls see themselves/their relationships depicted in the movie. like it speaks so specifically to all of us even though we all come from different homes and lives its just so genuine in capturing the young woman experience
— trish (@ULTRAGLOSS) March 6, 2018
“Lady Bird” captures the mother-teen daughter relationship so well. Maybe the best picture or best director winner would’ve reflected that if more Oscar voters were women.
— Jennifer Epstein (@jeneps) March 5, 2018
Just watched Real Women Have Curves and Lady Bird back to back. How could this not be plagiarism? And of course the white plagiarized version gets the Oscar nominations. FYI Real Women Have Curves was written by a Brown Mexican immigrant woman.
— Luz 🇵🇸 (@trans_lucent) March 6, 2018
calling lady bird overrated is not only sexist but also ableist (she breaks her arm), homophobic (there's a gay supporting character), and classist (lady bird's family is poor)
— christina (@ladybiird) February 19, 2018
Next: Oscars 2018: 5 snubs we're most surprised about
If there’s one thing fans and critics can agree on, it’s that more stories with diverse casts like Lady Bird and Get Out would have a fighting chance at an Oscar if Academy voters were as diverse in opinion and demographics as their films’ passionately tweeting audience.