FEATURE:
Levelling the Score
IN THIS PHOTO: Hildur Guðnadóttir/PHOTO CREDIT: Timothée Lambrecq
The Importance of Hildur Guðnadóttir’s Oscar Win – and Why There Are Still Big Problems That Need Addressing
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LAST Sunday was Oscars night…
and it was a chance to celebrate the finest in the film industry. Most of the attention goes to the films, actors, and directors; few look further down the list and nod to the costume designers and composers. As a music journalist, I was particularly interested to see who would win the music categories. You can see all the winners here - but it was a good night for Bernie Taupin and Elton John – they won Music (Original Song) for (I’m Gonna) Love Me Again from Rocketman. The Music (Original Score) Oscar went to Hildur Guðnadóttir. It is a big deal, because Hildur Guðnadóttir is the first woman to win in the best Original Score category since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences combined all of the Score categories into one in 2000. Guðnadóttir is one of only seven women to be nominated in any score composition category - only three have won. I have seen articles and tweets put up that highlight Guðnadóttir and, predictably, there is a mass of sexist comments that follows. People are either not bothered by the imbalance or they feel like women need to do better. The apathy and sexism are shocking, because there are plenty of talented women who compose, but are not given the same attention and opportunities and men. Before I move on, here is a statistic that outlines the problem we have:
“On the top 250 grossing films of 2019, women comprised 6% of composers. This represents no change since 2019. (Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film)”.
PHOTO CREDIT: @kaelbloom/Unsplash
It was a good night for Hildur Guðnadóttir and her remarkable score for Joker. Let’s hope that her accomplishment opens eyes and ears to the brilliant female composers out there: This Pitchfork article reacts to her win:
“Hildur Guðnadóttir has won the 2020 Oscar for Best Original Score. The Icelandic composer took home the trophy for her work Joker, which previously netted her the Golden Globe for Best Original Score. She won the Academy Award over John Williams (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker), Alexandre Desplat (Little Women), Randy Newman (Marriage Story), and Thomas Newman (1917).
“To the girls, to the women, to the mothers, to the daughters who hear the music bubbling within, please speak up,” Guðnadóttir said in her acceptance speech. “We need to hear your voices.” Watch her speech below.
Guðnadóttir is the seventh woman in Oscars history to be nominated for Best Original Score and only the fourth ever to win in the category. She’s also the first woman ever to win the Golden Globe for Best Original Score”.
Her score for Joker is sensational, and I suggest you listen to it when you can. Like all fantastic composers, Guðnadóttir uses instruments like the cello and characters and voices; she connects her music with the character in a way that heightens the performance and adds something remarkable to the film. In this BBC article, Guðnadóttir discussed her process and how she came to work on Joker:
"Joker is the story of basically one person, so it felt fitting that one instrument was leading the way into his head, leading us forward," she tells BBC News.
Of all the instruments at her disposal, she chose the cello. "It's my instrument, so it was convenient as I played it on the soundtrack," she says.
Hildur was lured into working on the Joker origin film by director Todd Phillips, and she recalls: "The script was just fantastic - it struck me very hard."
She collaborated on Arthur's transformation into Joker with Phillips and Phoenix, the favourite to win best actor at the Oscars.
"I fell in love with the film and wrote all the main themes before they started shooting, so they were able to use that music, and I was able to be a part of that."
Indiewire reported that Hildur's score became "the actor's muse" and "thereafter, he could be seen listening to the music in his ear piece on set throughout the shoot".
Hildur, whose work includes composing the score for last year's TV series Chernobyl, has already caused a stir with her recent winning streak at the award ceremonies.
So far she's notched up a Bafta and a Golden Globe for Joker and an Emmy for Chernobyl”.
PHOTO CREDIT: @jan_strecha/Unsplash
There are a few reasons why there are so few women being recognised and honoured for their work. The number of women in orchestras is pretty low, and I think there is this assumption that orchestras are a man’s domain; there is sexism and barriers that women have to face. The above article from 2012 highlights some problems:
“Is, then, the explanation for the low numbers of women in orchestras that of indirect sexism rather than outright prejudice? Women not wanting, or not being able to afford, to combine Kinder and Küche (if not now Kirche) with concert tours? It is surely no coincidence that the Berlin Philharmonic, the orchestra with the heaviest touring schedule of any in Germany, is only 14 per cent female. Sarah Willis, a horn player with the orchestra for the past 20 years (and thus part of the ostensibly clubbish boys' brass section), states that she has never been witness to any sexist behaviours within it – either day-to-day or during auditions.
She has, however, spoken to young female musicians who are put off by the lack of family-friendly working practices. This is surely why the thesis that over time the proportion of men and women will naturally continue to level out fails to hold water. Admittedly the number of women in the Bavarian Radio Orchestra has doubled since Schwaabe joined in 1994 – but that only takes the numbers from 14 to 29.
PHOTO CREDIT: @albertobigoni/Unsplash
An important building block in the argument that orchestras are moving naturally towards equality is the fact that, by and large, the gender split in youth orchestras is already 50:50 and this can be taken to signify that the gender balance of major orchestras will inevitably even out in the future. Sara Nigard Rosendal, a young female percussionist with the European Youth Orchestra, is adamant that she will make her career in symphony orchestras and will not allow children to get in her way”.
The numbers have slightly improved since 2012, but I feel like so many talented female players and composers are put off because of issues like a lack of family-friendly working practices. Look out at the music industry, and there are some fantastic composers and songwriters. Artists like Anna Calvi are crossing over into film and T.V., but are enough doors being opened for women!? I think a lot of film producers and studios hire men to compose their scores, because of history and the assumption there are very few good female composers out there. Now that women from mainstream music are showing they can compose fantastic scores; I think we need to dispense with the assumption that female composers can only be found in orchestras. Even in orchestras, there is a shocking imbalance that some would argue means there is a lack of girls and women who want to join orchestras. A lot of girls are directed to play instruments like violins and pianos; instruments that are considered appropriate and ‘girly’.
Maybe there is a feeling that they (girls and women) are limited in their capabilities and should stick to instruments that ‘suit them’. There are a lot of women in charities and working in orchestras but, when it comes to executives and those who can make the decisions, there are fairly few women. Work by women is being featured and celebrated more, but there is still a way to go. This illuminating article raised some interesting points:
“When we think of the great movie composers, these are the names that come to mind: Hans Zimmer; John Williams; Nino Rota; Danny Elfman; John Barry; James Horner and Alan Silvestri. All men. Most people can name one female film composer, but can you name two?
Zimmer, known for his work on blockbusters such as The Dark Knight Trilogy and Interstellar, has recently been hired for Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman 1984. This isn’t just a missed opportunity for a female oriented film to also employs a female for the soundtrack, but it’s also the latest example of women being largely unheard in the world of film composing. A study by the University of Southern California in 2018 found that, of the top 100 fiction films at the box office every year from 2007 to 2017, only 16 female composers were hired, in comparison to 1,218 men.
Additionally, a supporting report from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film revealed that 94 per cent of the top 250 films at the domestic box office in 2018 used male composers. In an era of Time’s Up, an organisation set up in support for equal pay and opportunities, female composers are still lingering in the shadows behind the men who hold domination in this industry”.
There are some brilliant women composing for film, and I think Hildur Guðnadóttir’s Oscar triumph will break down a lot of barriers and force the industry, orchestras, and film studios to work towards inclusivity and accept the fact that there are some remarkable women who warrant focus. As things stand, the figures are alarming:
“Another report, from the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, showed that of the top 250 films at the domestic box office in 2018, 94 percent were scored by men.
“The numbers are bleak, but the landscape isn’t,” said Laura Karpman, a veteran film composer (“Paris Can Wait”) and a governor in the music branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. “People are reaching out in a way that I’ve never seen it my whole career.”
Karpman was instrumental in expanding the diversity of her branch’s membership, which now includes the Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina. Karpman also spearheaded the creation of a shortlist in the score category of the Academy Awards. “Had we had a voted-upon shortlist last year, I think we would have more diversity,” she said. Citing the composers behind “Get Out” and “Mudbound,” she added, “I want to see Michael Abels and Tamar-kali on Oscar shortlists.” (Karpman spoke before the shortlist was announced in December. It includes Terence Blanchard’s score for “BlacKkKlansman” — his first Oscar nomination if he moves to the next round — but, alas, no women.)
Tamar-kali is one of several new voices in a persistently white male milieu. “Mudbound,” directed by Dee Rees, was the Brooklyn artist’s first score, which she followed with the Netflix drama “Come Sunday.” She’s also reteaming with Rees for an adaptation of the Joan Didion novel “The Last Thing He Wanted.” As an Afro-indigenous woman in the New York punk rock scene, she said, she was already used to being “an outlier within the outliers.”
“It just kind of fuels your creativity,” she explained. “The ethos means even more to you, because you’re practicing it every moment — even in the pit, even at shows.”
The women interviewed for this article offered a variety of reasons for the longstanding inequality: institutionalized sexism; a lack of precedents and female role models to inspire girls to go into the field; and the social conditioning of women to be selfless caretakers and not seize the spotlight.
Increasingly, women are entering the profession, but are still outnumbered by men. The film scoring certificate program at the University of California, Los Angeles has produced 120 graduates since 2013, of which only 25 percent were female. Likewise, only a quarter of applicants to the film scoring graduate program at U.S.C. this year were female — although the school invited seven women to join its 20-student program.
(Portman suggested that universities pumping so many aspiring composers into such a small competitive field might itself be a problem.)”.
I know things will not change overnight, but there will be girls and women out there inspired by Hildur Guðnadóttir’s Oscar win who will strive to get to where she is. I feel the fact schools in the U.K. and U.S. are reducing music’s visibility on the curriculum, but, even with that aside, orchestras need to be a lot more welcoming of women and dispose of the culture of sexism. I know there are orchestras where there is parity and equality, but so many are male-dominated, when there are phenomenally eager and talented female musicians and composers. Just seeing someone like Guðnadóttir acclaimed and speaking out means people will open their eyes. I do not think we will wait very long before another female composer is celebrated at the Oscars or BAFTAs. I accept there are fewer female composers in general, but that does not mean that the talent pool is dry; orchestras need to do more and commission their work. The film and music industries have a problem with sexism, and those in charge need to work harder to foster women and make improvements. There are some fantastic women kicking down misconceptions and showing that they are as talented as their male counterparts. Maybe true equality is a way away, but we will still small steps and changes. Hildur Guðnadóttir’s Joker genius – and her female peers’ brilliant work -, will go a very long way to…
LEVELLING the score.