D Cairns

You can get a list of Oscar winners online, and read about the films online, although seeing as many of the films as possible would be a good idea.

By your definition, Sharon Stone would not qualify as a sex object as her character is a schemer and vamp who uses both sex and love to get ahead, but also does drugs, has an obsession with James Woods' character, is a gambler. There is more to the character than sex, and she is certainly self-motivated, rather than being a plaything for men.

It's pretty obvious Charlize Theron got her award for 1) a surprising and effective performance and 2) the stunt of making hersle flook less attractive. Kim basinger got hers because she had been around awhile, dropped off the radar, and made a comeback in a popular film. Stone got hers for showing she could act.

To test a theory you need as large a group as you can get, and you shouldn't fix the results by choosing three actresses who have played prostitutes. There is a theory that many times actresses win for playing prostitutes: why not test it by counting the total number of tarts-with-heart roles to get nominated or win since, say, 1968? It wouldn't take long at all.

You don't need to go to the library to do any of this, as long as you have a computer.

Steve Crook

Make a list of all the winners (and possibly all of the nominees) and then say how many of them might have won because they are regarded as sex objects. It probably is the case for some of them, but is it for all of them?

Did Helen Mirren win for The Queen because she was a sex object?
Helen can be very sexy, but was she at all sexy in that role?

And when you've done it for the ladies, do it again for the fellas and see how many of them might have won because of their looks rather than because of their acting ability

Doing that will test any theories you may have about only sex objects winning Oscars. And you may by surprised by the result.

Steve

CaptainWaggett

Best Actress Oscar Winners who, in my opinion, didn't play a sex object (a term you might want to define). I'm sure others can add to the list since I haven't seen every Oscar winning film... You could add to the list if you read about the films and looked at Best Supporting Actress Winners (since that tends to be won be character actresses in more quirky roles).

1931 Marie Dressler - Min and Bill
1937 Luise Rainer - The Good Earth
1942 Greer Garson - Mrs Miniver
1943 Jennifer Jones - The Song of Bernadette
1949 Olivia De Havilland - The Heiress
1951 Vivien Leigh - Streetcar Named Desire
1952 Shirley Booth - Come Back Little Sheba
1955 Anna Magnani - The Rose Tatto
1956 Ingrid Bergman - Anastasia
1957 Joanne Woodward - Three Faces of Eve
1958 Susan Hayward - I want to live
1962 Anne Bancroft - The Miracle Worker
1964 Julie Andrews - Mary Poppins
1967 Katherine Hepburn - Guess who's coming to dinner?
1968 Katherine Hepburn - The Lion in Winter
1969 Maggie Smith - The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
1973 Glenda Jackson - A Touch of Class
1974 Ellen Burstyn - Alice doesn't live here any more
1975 Louise Fletcher - One flew over the cuckoo's nest
1979 Sally Field - Norma Rae
1981 Katherine Hepburn - On Golden Pond
1982 Meryl Streep - Sophie's Choice
1985 Geraldine Page - The Trip to Bountiful
1986 Marlee Matlin - Children of a Lesser God
1989 Jessica Tandy - Driving Miss Daisy
1990 Kathy Bates - Misery
1991 Jodie Foster - The Silence of the Lambs
1992 Emma Thompson - Howard's End
1993 Holly Hunter - The Piano
1995 Susan Sarandon - Dead Man Walking
1995 Francis McDormand - Fargo

Steve Crook

And you can see the full list of winners (& nominees) at Wikipedia

Steve

Woogyman

Thanks.

Yeah, i know but just using the internet won't get me much marks on the first paper since we're evaluating our methods of research. So, going to the bfi National Library will help me for the first part of the paper as one form of methodology.

Apart from a list of oscar winners both male/female, will there be anything else i can find at the bfi National Library that will be useful for my research?

Women, Sex & Film...
womensexandfilm.blogspot.com

Dame Starry

I've been a sex object all of my life.........whenever I want sex, men object!

DS x.

lordtednfs

Sexually attractive to whom?

What's one mans meat is another mans poison!

_______________
Hooked off the line

Woogyman

Already looking into that! Audience and Institutions; the Male Gaze and Female Representation.

I was talking to my media teacher, she was like looking at 3 movies is more than enough, than it all get really hard for myself, since the first half of the exam is evaluate your methodology, so i can always say 3 movies are not enough to confirm my theory. I specificly chose the 3 movies since the actresses played prostitutes and won/nominated for a Oscar, so i can always evaluate on that.

But i am going to briefly look into the last 5 years of female oscar winners...
2007 - Marion Cotillard
2006 - Helen Mirren
2005 - Reece Witherspoon
2004 - Hilary Swank
2003 - Charlize Theron (already fully analysed)

And ask whether the following actresses were regarded as sex objects in the films they won the Oscar in.

Women, Sex & Film...
womensexandfilm.blogspot.com

AlexClarke

your question is absolute crap

smiffy

So's your reply

I May be getting older ,but I refuse to grow up

Wicked Lady

I wouldn't say the question is crap, but it is pretty cliched.

Whenever the role of women in cinema is examined, it is ALWAYS in relation to sex.

Dull, dull, dull.

A more interesting question would be what do men in the film industry gain by keeping women away from equality of power, pay and opportunity?

Mariska Hargitay is the highest paid female on US TV at the moment and earns $400,000 an episode. Charlie Sheen earns $825,000 per episode of Two and a Half Men.

Tell me THAT's fair.

Woogyman

I'm only looking at women in film, not men or women in TV shows. But, thats a really good question. Well, I just want to say thanks for everyones help. This will go into my first question, evaluating my research methods.

Women, Sex & Film...
womensexandfilm.blogspot.com

Gypsy

I'd like to congratulate you on holding your nerve and managing to maintain good manners throughout this testing time. Goodnight and Good Luck.