On a night that should’ve ended on a celebratory note, it ended on a sour one. Zoe Saldaña won the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in Emilia Pérez at the 97th Annual Academy Awards, becoming the first American of Dominican origin to win the prestigious award. After the win, Saldaña headed to the Oscars press room, where she was asked to address the controversy surrounding the film by Mexican journalist Cristina Ibañez.
The film has faced criticism for its misrepresentation of trans people, and the actors themselves have faced criticism for not acknowledging the LGBTQ+ community or the Mexican community during their acceptance speeches this awards season. Two marginalized communities are united in their opinion that this film and the people responsible for making this film were only seeking to profit from them instead of taking the time to advocate for them, especially during the current hostile political climate.
Ibañez questioned the actress on the film’s Mexican representation, but also on the lack of recognition for Mexico, which was believed to be the center of the film. The reporter also included the controversial portrayal of Mexican cartels and their victims in the question, to which Saldaña gave a dismissive response. GLAAD, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, criticized the film’s stereotypical portrayal of trans people and how those tropes set back trans representation. At a time when these two groups are being targeted by bigotry and hatred, and uncertainty threatens the world, people with a platform and people creating art through any creative outlet, especially if they identify with any of these two communities, should feel a responsibility to push back against that.
Zoe Saldaña Gives an Invalidating Apology
3.5
/5
Release Date
November 13, 2024
Runtime
130 Minutes
Following her big win and making Oscars history, Saldaña made her way to the press room at the Dolby Theatre to answer press questions and celebrate her victory. It wasn’t until Cristina Ibañez, a Mexican journalist, questioned Saldaña about the cast and crew’s dismissal of the Mexican community that things took a sour turn. Ibañez asked Saldaña to address the criticism Emilia Pérez has received from Mexican audiences and why the people behind making the film, including herself, had left Mexico out of the conversation if Mexico appeared to be the heart of the film. Saldaña’s response appeared to be off to a great start until she reached the point in the apology where it could no longer be considered an apology. She said
“First of all, I’m very, very sorry that you and so many Mexicans felt offended. That was never our intention. We spoke, and we came from a place of love and I will stand by that.”
The Academy Award-winning actress decided to dig herself deeper by continuing to say
“I don’t share your opinion. For me, the heart of this movie was not Mexico. We weren’t making a film about a country. We were making a film about four women. And these women could have been Russian, could have been Dominican, could have been Black from Detroit, could have been from Israel, could have been from Gaza.”
Some acceptance speeches at this year’s Academy Awards ceremony were tone-deaf, and the people in Hollywood showed a lack of empathy for the current political climate, disappointing a lot of viewers. Saldaña’s response further solidified how people view celebrities and how out of touch they seem. It was a disheartening response, to put it mildly, and further validated the Mexican community’s criticism of the film.
The Cast and Crew Fail to Acknowledge the Trans Community
Emilia Pérez is a musical crime film that tells the story of Rita (Saldaña), a Mexican lawyer who receives an unexpected job offer to represent a Mexican cartel leader, Emilia Pérez (Karla Sofía Gascón), who fakes her death and undergoes gender-affirming surgery to transition into a woman. One might think that with a main character who identifies as a trans woman, the cast and crew would address the issues surrounding the trans community and show their solidarity, but unfortunately, they rarely have. In an interview with Vanity Fair, Gascón responded to the criticism regarding the representation of the trans community in the film and said,
“If you don’t like it, go and make your own movie… Go create the representation you want to see for your community.”
Related
This one might be too little, too late.
This cast, the director, and crew completely missed the mark in properly addressing the two communities represented in the film. There’s no excuse for not addressing the difficulty that transgender and Mexican people are facing. In this political climate, silence speaks volumes, and it’s viewed as playing a complicit role with the people enforcing policies based on transphobia and racism.
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