Cate Blanchett has hit out at the patriarchy in the most awesome and public way during her acceptance speech for Best Actress at the Critics Choice Awards.
The actress won the accolade for her performance as composer Lydia Tár in upcoming movie Tár, Blanchett used her time on stage to spotlight the range of amazing female performances we see, calling the awarding decision “arbitrary”.
“This best actress, I mean it is extremely arbitrary considering how many extraordinary performances there have been by women not only in this room,” she said.
“I can’t believe I’m up here. This is ridiculous… I would love it if we would just change this whole f***ing structure. It’s like what is this patriarchal pyramid where someone stands up here.
“Why don’t we just say there was a whole raft of female performances that are in concert and in dialogue with one another? And stop the televised horse race of it all.”
Blanchett beat out Margot Robbie, Michelle Yeoh, Viola Davis, Michelle Williams and Danielle Deadwyler for the award, but she was all about highlight the talent of “every single woman” in the industry – not just herself.
Kevin Winter
“Can I tell you, every single woman with a television, film, advertising, tampon commercials — whatever — you’re all out there doing amazing work that is inspiring me continually,” she said. “So thank you. I share this with you all.”
The very beginning of Cate Blanchett’s speech was hilarious, too. Before she made her moves to dismantle the sexist attitudes around awards ceremonies, she made a great joke involving Julia Roberts.
“This is actually the second award of the evening; Julia Roberts, earlier, presented me with a bottle of mouthwash,” she said. “So thank you, Julia. This is a poor second.”
2023 awards season has kicked off with a somewhat disappointing start when it comes to the impact of the patriarchy.
As well as Blanchett’s “patriarchal pyramid” description, the BRIT Awards have been criticised for shortlisting only male artists for their Artist of the Year category. Do better, guys.