This year, many Emmy Awards went to shows that revolve around women, like “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
The Emmy Awards flashed across television screens on September 17, and the underdogs prevailed and crushed records left and right. Women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community of actors finally received recognition at the award ceremony. How ironic yet beautiful it is that progress has been made in the world of acting in a time where America is taking so many steps backward.
HBO’s comedy series, “Veep,” stars the talented Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who created history when she accepted the “Outstanding Lead Actress In a Comedy Series.” At nine wins, she has snagged the most Emmys by a performer in the same role in the same series. Joy surrounded her as she delivered her speech and cracked some jokes. She ended with gratitude and grace, “This was and continues to be the role of a lifetime and an adventure of utter joy.” This, a mammoth accomplishment for any actor or actress, was also a win for all of females as Louis-Dreyfus has created a crack in the glass ceiling of the television industry.
Winning an Emmy is an honor. Winning two Emmys is spectacular. Winning five Emmys was thought to be impossible for anyone but especially for a cast led by women — the cast of “Big Little Lies” did exactly that. The cast left the night with the titles: “Outstanding Limited Series,” “Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Movie” (won by Nicole Kidman), “Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited Series or a Movie,” (won by Alexander Skarsgård), “Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or a Movie,” (won by Laura Dern), and “Outstanding Directing for a Limited Series, Movie or Dramatic Special” (won by Jean-Marc Valée). The show is a win for the female community of actresses.
“Black Mirror” — the series that left audiences shaking in their seats, talking for days, and contemplating the future of technology — had one particular episode that shattered social barriers, “San Junipero.” The season-three episode was awarded the Emmy for “Outstanding Television Movie,” and is a win for the LGBTQ community and the community of women. It features two women in love through a virtual world created by future technology.
“The Handmaid’s Tale” walked out of the Emmys triumphant with an impressive five Emmys in their hands. As Rachel Withers pointed recently out in Slate, the show is extremely relevant in Donald Trump’s America. Withers writes that the “hierarchical dystopia of Gilead, in which fertile women — ‘handmaids’ — are forced to bear children for upper class couples, resonated with those horrified by the Trump Administration’s attacks on civil liberties and the Republican party’s ongoing attempts to strip federal funding from Planned Parenthood.” She went on, “the handmaid’s uniform became a suitably provocative costume for activists protesting legislative efforts to roll back their reproductive rights.”
The Emmys this year proved that regardless of events in the world and in spite of hate, positive messages of love and acceptance in art will continue to be present. If every win is a step closer to a world of real equality, the 2017 Emmy Awards were a big leap forward.
