“Till” Actress Danielle Deadwyler Opens Up On “Misogyny” In Film Industry

MaryKate Kreuger: February 21st, 2023

Following her performance as Mamie Till-Mobley in the film, Danielle Deadwyler was nominated for various awards, including Critic’s Choice, NAACP, and BAFTA awards. Among all of these awards, Deadwyler did not receive an Oscar nomination.

Deadwyler played the role of a grieving mother in the film “Till,” which follows the pursuit of justice following the brutal murder of 14-year-old Emmet Till in 1955. 
Deadwyer accredited her lack of Oscar nomination to the term “misogynoir,” a term credited by Moya Bailey referring to a form of misogyny experienced by black women due to their race and gender intersecting. 

In an episode of a podcast called “Kermode’s & Mako’s Tale,” Deadwyler claims, “We're talking about people who perhaps chose not to see the film, we're talking about misogynoir ... it comes in all kinds of ways,".

According to a report by CNN, the expansion of diversity in Hollywood has not been correlated with diversity in the Oscars, which has low-demographic figures for Oscar nominations.

Deadwyler also elaborated on comments made by “Till” director Chinonye Chuku, who wrote in an Instagram caption, “We live in a world and work in industries that are so aggressively committed to upholding whiteness and perpetuating an unabashed misogyny towards Black women,"

This year at the Oscars, no women were nominated for the title of Best Director. Among the 20 Oscars received, only one recipient was a black female- Angela Bassett of Black Panther. 

Which received an A+ cinema score for her powerful performance. Alongside Deadwyler,  Viola Davis from 'The Woman King' was another African American actress snubbed at the Oscars, which received an A+ cinema score for her powerful performance. 
While speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Deadwyler said, “Cinematic history is 100+ years old. I would dare say the system is deeply, deeply impacted by systemic racism that has shaped our country”.