For many years at the start of
this decade I spent a lot of time and energy arguing against the idea of
eliminating gender as a qualification as an acting award: a cause led by such
non-binary performers as Asia Kate Dillon since at least 2021.
Over the last couple of years
I’ve had little to say about the subject because of the only significant
development during the five years since Dillon began pressing for it within
Hollywood: really nothing has happened. While certain heads of awards shows
have said the right things in public, there have been no real effort to remove
gender from any major awards groups. I don’t just mean the Oscars, Tonys or
Emmys; I mean the Golden Globes, the SAG Awards and the Critics Choice Awards.
Even the Astras, which started giving awards for TV in 2021 and were ambitious
and revolutionary in how they give awards have remained loyal to the standards
of gender. Indeed the only awards show of any significance to eliminate gender
as a qualification has been the Independent Spirit Awards and they may have
more to do with the makeup of the membership then any desire to be at the
vanguard.
The more progressive members of
the community may argue that this represents the refusal of ‘the system’ to
reject change. I’d argue those people to consider this: among the most liberal
people in the most liberal community in the world do not think that it is worth
tearing down a standard that has worked perfectly well for nearly a century for
what is a small portion of the population. I’m not talking about the non-binary
people across the country (though how creating gender-neutral Emmys would help
non-binary service people in Oklahoma or students in Mississippi is a question
that Dillon or their contemporaries have ever been asked) but within the film
and television industry. And not even the entire industry, but only actors,
even though I assume non-binary people inhabit at some level every part of the
industry from costume designing to editing to scoring. Despite what Liv Hewson
might say there is a place for non-binary people in Hollywood, and if you need
a shiny statue to tell you that, the problem is more with you then with the
industry.
This brings me to one of the most
prominent non-binary performers in Hollywood right now as well as someone who
has been the target of the most open vitriol among almost any performer working
today: Bella Ramsey.
Ramsey has been one of HBO’s star
performers since they portrayed Lyanna starting in Season 5 of Game of
Thrones, then playing Angelica on His Dark Materials. During this
same period Ramsey also had a lead role on the Netflix YA series The Worst
Witch and played Lady Jane Grey on the Starz drama becoming Elizabeth. Ramsey
also has done voice work, notably in the title role of Hilda.
None of this was notable of
controversy until Ramsey was cast as Ellie on The Last Of Us. Like
Pascal and everyone else in the case of The Last of Us Ramsey received a
huge amount of acclaim for their work. Then while the Emmy nominations were
coming out Ramsey announced that they identified as non-binary. Then the roof
fell in.
While critics have been raving
about the second season of The Last of Us the fan reaction has been
incredibly toxic to say the least. Much of it is formed in the kind of vague
framing that so many of the worst aspects of this particular community can be.
None of them say that they hate Ramsey’s work because of their gender
preference or indeed the fact that Ellie has been a lesbian and is very
prominently so on the series. No, it takes the form of body-shaming of the
worst kind. Because the creators did nothing to ostensibly change Ellie from
her portrayal on the screen – it is
still a white girl as was in the video game is it based on - the argument has taken the form that the
casting directors should have cast someone who ‘looked more like’ the avatar of
Ellie on the screen. Video game players have always had a very one-dimensional
view of how they think characters should look on their TVs. That casting
directors for television series have always had a different standard than video
games never enters the discussion.
So while the critical raves for
the series have been high, gamers have been essentially review bombing the
second season on websites like Rotten Tomatoes to the point that season 2 is
currently ranked by fans at 44 percent. And it is very clear why these bombings
are there. On imdb.com, the series is still ranked 130th all time
but the fans have been going out of their way to review bomb individual
episodes to the point that many episodes rank at 6.9 or 6.3. This homophobia is
not new The Last of Us. Last year’s ‘Long, Long Time’, which was ranked
as one of the great episodes in television history and won multiple Emmys was
essentially review bombed until it’s rating was 8.1 and again when Ellie’s
sexuality was revealed in ‘Left Behind’. Nick Offerman and Storm Reid won Emmys
for their work in these episodes, so it’s very clear that the homophobia in
this episode was leading the charge in both cases.
The toxic masculinity of the
Internet is of course nothing new for television series that are based on
popular source material. One saw it with the toxic reaction to Katee Sackoff
being cast as Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica, it has carried on in so
much of Arrow-verse on the CW during the 2010s and it went to ridiculous
standards for Rings of Power and Wheel of Time. And it is not as
if actresses have been immune from misogyny in non-genre television as the
vilification of Skyler in Breaking Bad has essentially driven Anna Gunn
from acting. Ramsey has been caught in a perfect storm in this sense and the
often far-right attitudes that are against the LGBTQ+ community across the
country have been turned on them full-steam.
That makes Ramsey’s comment on
gender-neutral awards all the more stunning. Ramsey, it’s worth noting, has
never said anything about the subject during the Emmys and all of the awards
that have followed since Season 1. Ramsey is currently a front-runner for Best
Actress in a Drama; this past month they were nominated for Best Actress by the
Astra TV awards. So understandably their opinion on the subject was sought out
by Variety. I will quote their response below:
“I don’t have the answer and I wish
that there was something that was an easy way around it, but I think that
it’s really important that we have a female category and a male category,”
Ramsey said, adding that it’s important that ‘recognition for women in the
industry is preserved.”
Even though Ramsey does not
identify as a female and says being labeled as an ‘actress’ does not feel quite
right, they are comfortable being put in the actress category at the Emmys for
‘The Last of Us’. At least for now.
“I have a guttural, ‘That’s not
quite right instinct to (being called an actress) Ramsey said. “But I just
don’t take it too seriously…it doesn’t feel like an attack on my identity.” (italics
for emphasis)
A couple of other things. Dillon
as of this writing is 40 and Ramsey is about to turn 22. While Dillon no doubt
struggled more for acceptability in their career Ramsey has lived their entire
life in a world where both in England and America, homophobia has been even
more pronounced that it was a decade ago. And with due respect to Dillon, because
of the greater success – and just as toxic backlash – that Ramsey and The
Last of Us have been subjected to pretty much since it premiered, Ramsey
would actually been entitled to be more defiant and demanding recognition than
Dillon and their contemporaries. I have little doubt that Emma Corrin and Milly
Alcock have undergone extraordinary backlash in their lives but none of them
have had to deal with the venom of the worst aspects of humanity in the way
that Ramsey has.
So the fact that Ramsey when
asked the question chooses not to be defiant on the subject the way that Hewson
or Dillon are is telling. To them, the argument is simple: the old standards
have to go, immediately if not sooner. To Ramsey, the situation is more
complicated than that. And the fact that Ramsey has the ability to see that
being nominated for an award is not only not an attack on your identity but
something not to be taken that seriously in the grand scheme of things shows an
openness and nuance that we don’t so among LGBTQ+ community, not just in
Hollywood but overall.
Ramsey doesn’t think there’s an
easy answer but the idea of tearing everything down isn’t one. And by framing
the subject as trying to be respectful for women in the industry is also a telling
move. I’m sure that if Dillon or anyone else in this community was asked the
question: “Aren’t you demand recognition for you at the expense of others, particularly
women?” they would argue that this isn’t about prejudice but recognition for
them. Ramsey, almost certainly because of their exposure to the worst aspects
of humanity online, knows very well how little respect there is for female
performers in Hollywood and knows that their comfort cannot come at the expense
of other female performers.
It should be noted this
diplomatic response is not going to help Ramsey with the toxic internet venom
they get on an hourly basis. They have their opinion of Ramsey and nothing that
they personally say will change that. And I have little doubt this will hurt
Ramsey’s reputation with so many aspects of the far left part of Hollywood and
other aspects of society, who will no doubt see this a betrayal of ‘the cause’
and see any sign of nuance or moderation as an excuse to cast one of their own
aside. Ramsey has to have known this being a member of Gen Z and aware of the
toxic nature of cancel culture on one side and the right’s misogyny on the
left. So the fact that they still chose to take this position is, in a way, as
bold and defiant as anything Ellie does on The Last of Us.
Now I have seen the second season
of The Last of Us, save the finale which I will watch tonight. I am
convinced it is one of the best shows of 2025 and worthy of Emmy nominations
across the board with Ramsey a major contender for Best Actress in A Drama.
Ramsey’s work is a towering force of strength that is riveting every moment
they are onscreen and with all due respect to the haters out there, no one else
could have brought Ellie to live like Ramsey. My standards are different from
the gamers out there. I measure a performers by their acting ability, not their
resemblance to an avatar who’s sole purpose is to kill zombies.
I can’t imagine the challenges
that Ramsey has faced in their life, not only with their gender identity but
only recently realizing that they are on the spectrum as well. That Ramsey has
managed to surpass all of them and reach the pinnacle of their profession at
such a young age is to be applauded; that they demonstrate the wisdom rarely
seen in anyone of their generation of a simplistic approach to all aspects of
society is to be celebrated as well. Ramsey acknowledges that they may change
their mind down the road but I don’t object to that either because it demonstrates
something one rarely sees in people of the generation: a willingness to change
your mind and have multiple opinions on views rather than just one and never
changing it.
Its still not clear what Hollywood
is going to do on this particular subject; that they’ve done nothing yet doesn’t
mean they won’t change their mind or find a way to compromise. But I would hope
that going forward that they would grant the same level of weight to the
opinions of Bella Ramsey as much as those of Asia Kate Dillon. I’d also hope
that Dillon will also consider the opinion of Ramsey, particularly that part of
‘not taking it too seriously.” Of all the issues that non-binary people face in
America, this has to be very, very low on the list when it comes to obstacles.
Ramsey seems to be aware of that and I hope that those such as Dillon can
realize it as well.
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