Natalie Portman made quite a powerful feminist statement when she entered the Red Carpet wearing a black and gold custom Dior gown and cape, and an important message. To highlight the Oscars jury discrimination towards female directors, the cape features names of the women who deserved but did not get nominated for Best Director at the Oscars 2020. While the dress did create a wave, it also backfired on Natalie and highlighted her own ‘hypocrisy’ as the public is calling it. For details, keep reading this article.
Natalie’s Oscars 2020 dress
According to Natalie Portman, while speaking to Los Angeles times, the dress had a bigger purpose and meaning than simply making a statement.
“I wanted to recognize the women who were not recognized for their incredible work this year in my subtle way.”
Watch her talk about this dress while on the red carpet of the Oscars 2020.
Natalie Portman embroidered her Dior cape with all of the female directors who weren't nominated for #Oscars. Check out her explanation here. pic.twitter.com/kyyo2wVMZf
— Amy Kaufman (@AmyKinLA) February 10, 2020
What’s Natalie Portmans’ hypocrisy?
Well, it turns out that Natalie Portman owns her own production company called the handsomecharlie productions. And the backlash she’s getting is due to the fact that her company has not hired a female director to date. Well, except Natalie, of course.
A number of people took to Twitter to highlight this fact while Natalie Portmans’ feminist-centric dress was making the news.
A Twitter user @ncavalanche wrote that her own company had only ever hired male directors. And added the term ‘Hollywood hypocrites’ for this situation.
What I find funny is that Natalie Portman has hired 0 (zero) women to direct the movies made using her own production company. I think there's about 7 films under her company, she hired male directors for all of them. Hollywood hypocrites are fun. https://t.co/qcI5BFJR1S
— nathan coker (@ncavalanche) February 10, 2020
Another Twitter user @OhMyMithrandir also pointed out how ironic it was that Natalie Portman wore this dress for female directors but never worked with one herself.
i wonder if this means her production company will finally produce a film with a female director https://t.co/5J9bEANXD0
— KATE SÁNCHEZ (@OhMyMithrandir) February 10, 2020
Yet another user @shmcdnnll called this an act of ‘performative (white) feminism on Natalie’s part.
I am so sick of performative (white) feminism being applauded, especially when Natalie Portman has a production company and it has only ever hired one (1) female director: HER https://t.co/y7Auqnxk23
— cheers man (@shmcdnnII) February 10, 2020
Someone else also highlighted how her production company has only ever worked with white male directors.
#NataliePortman's performative Feminism at the Oscars fails to address the fact that her very own production company is peopled by White Male directors:https://t.co/OjXDBEMPSG
— Dr Claire M Massey (@drclairemmassey) February 10, 2020
A look at the films and directors under Natalie Portmans’ production company
After looking at the complete list of movies and directors under handsomecharlie productions, we have to say that these people are factually correct. Here’s the full list:
- “No Strings Attached” — Ivan Reitman
- “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” — Burr Steers
- “Jane Got a Gun” — Gavin O’Connor
- “Hesher” — Spencer Susser
- “Love and Other Impossible Pursuits” — Don Roos
- “A Tale of Love and Darkness” — Natalie Portman
- “Eating Animals” — Christopher Dillon Quinn
- “Eve” — Natalie Portman
- “Foxy Trotter” — Chris Prynoski
- “Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Including Books, Street Fashion, and Jewelry” — Announced, no director name attached yet.
- “Best Buds” — Announced, no director name attached yet.
In this case, we have to say that people are reacting as they would in such a scenario. We believe in Natalie’s whole-hearted and positive intent to appreciate the female directors. But it’s time for influential people to step up and actually work with people they wish to empower rather than just talking about lack of inclusiveness and representation.
