The once-in-awhile Eugene Awards, this newspaper’s invention of agricultural awards that are a spoof on the Academy Awards, were off to a good start.
The Eugenes, named for former federal agriculture minister Eugene Whelan, follow close upon the televised Academy presentations.
The award for best art direction was a no brainer. It went to the farmers of east-central Saskatchewan, who were forced in 2010 to make some fantastical patterns in their fields as they farmed around new lakes, potholes and washouts.
The award for best animated short went to Canadian Federation of Agriculture president Ron Bonnett, who has been tireless of late in attending farm group meetings to promote plans for a national food strategy.
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The award for best actress went to Mother Nature, for her continued ability to surprise and challenge our emotions through her performances. She always wins some sort of Eugene.
But then we got distracted with the Best Picture award.True Gritwas nominated by the Academy but didn’t win, and Hailee Steinfeld was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, and she didn’t win either for her role as the feisty Mattie Ross.
Reviews of the movie suggest the Mattie Ross depiction isn’t true to history, and that women of that era typically didn’t carry a gun, straddle a horse or talk back to men.
“They either kept the house, cooked and tended the children, or they were schoolteachers or prostitutes,” says Nancy Williams, an expert on women’s issues in the Old West.
Having recently seen the original True Gritand the award-nominated remake, we can attest that Mattie Ross is a lot like farm and ranch women on the Prairies today.
We talk with a lot of families in our work at theProducer,and it’s clear that women occupy the heart of many farm and ranch operations. Whether they are working on or off the farm, driving equipment, handling livestock, managing the household, cooking or keeping track of the kids, modern prairie women have the grit depicted by Mattie Ross. And by Rooster Cogburn too, although most are cleaner and more polite.
Williams says the modern woman is able to identify with strong female characters like Mattie Ross.
Hear, hear. And so the Eugene award for Best Supporting Actress goes to the farm and ranch women of the Prairies, for their constant depiction of true grit.
