For Your Consideration: Emma D’Arcy as “Best Actress” for House of the Dragon
It seems HBO is putting a few actors forward for Emmy consideration for House of the Dragon. One is Emma D'Arcy, and rightfully so, they are amazing! This is not a question of whether or not they should be put forth: Emma should absolutely be recognized for their amazing work as Rhaenyra Targaryen, who has stepped into pop culture as a new and unique icon. And that’s due in no small part to the phenom that is Emma D’Arcy. The absolute chokehold the audio of them saying, “negroni sbagliato with prosecco,” had on TikTok for a hot minute was unmatched. And that’s because Emma is an icon in themself.
However, when we talk about award season, it brought up a question in my mind, and a few people have messaged me about it as well. Putting a nonbinary, genderqueer, or gender fluid person up for an award specifically in "best actor" or "best actress" categories feels off at best and very possibly downright disrespectful. The gender-specific distinctions make it unfitting, and add some other problems across the board, not just for nonbinary people.
So, what to do with this? Go by the gender of the character? Then, again, where do characters who don't fit the binary go? That doesn’t seem to work. So what next: Have a third category? That feels condescending somehow, almost like it could be construed as a second tier prize (or perhaps even third-tier, as historically speaking women don’t get the same recognition, and certainly not the same pay bump, with their awards as men do). So, what’s left?
Do away with the actor/actress distinction and just give out two awards. That's where I land with it personally. We over emphasize gender in our society anyway, and it's often a disadvantage to women and honestly to anyone who isn't a cis man. I have no idea how Emma feels about the awards or what they want or will choose to do, but these are my thoughts on an issue that's not going to go away. So we should probably address it sooner rather than later.
