Fight Fire With Sapphire!

Fellow travellers, I am heartened to know that sassy sister Kathryn Bigelow won the Oscar for Best Director, and her film won Best Picture. This is certainly a highly empowering development for women all across the globe. And it's a nice coincidence that it just happened to occur at around the same time as International Women's Day.

But I am frankly appalled that she dedicated her win to "the women and men in the military who risk their lives on a daily basis in Iraq and Afghanistan. May they come home safe."

Safe? Safe? What a disturbingly hateful thing to say.

Also, Ms Bigelow does seem to be quite an appearance conscious woman beholden to lookism, and she uses her "attractiveness" to her advantage. This is worrying.

Certainly James Cameron's film Avatar reinforced the capitalist paradigm by being so hugely financially successful, and he is - like so many Hollywood males - part of the patriarchy. However, his film was an undeniably searing critique of America's desire to rule this world (and others) by ultimately having the N'avi win the battle against that appalling nation's brutal army (and in a loving way).

Dare I say it, this made Avatar a more Gaia-friendly statement. And that's why it should have won.

I know that some will accuse me of sexism for holding this opinion. It is an accusation I deny.