When it comes to the movie awards scene, the Oscars are undoubtedly the granddaddy of them all. A boring old granddaddy who everybody publicly pays lots of respect, but secretly a lot of people actually just want to see shuttled off to a home along with his antiquated and embarrassing world views. On the opposite end of the spectrum in this awards family, you have the MTV Movie Awards – the hip awards show that is actually about what the young people enjoy.
While often dismissed by the more serious of the movie press as nothing but a popularity contest and not a true reflection on the filmmaking quality at hand, the MTV Movie Awards is actually doing some serious growing up this year. Yes, you’re still way more likely to find a Transformers movie being honoured rather than the latest thespian star-studded Terrence Mallick dramatic opus, but now the awards has looked at the diversity crisis engulfing Hollywood and actually decided to do something about it.
The list of 2017 nominations was released last night, and the most notable change is that they’ve now combined actors, both male and female, into one gender neutral category. This is actually applied across several categories, including a gender neutral Best Hero, Best Villain and more. And I just cannot think of why this hasn’t been done before. Why can’t we see Christian Bale compete against Tilda Swinton, or Daniel Day Lewis go up against Meryl Streep? The genitalia of these performers have absolutely nothing to do with their talent! (/rant over)
Another bit of inclusion – although a different type of inclusion this time – is that for the first time, MTV will not just be honouring TV series as well, but they’ve even had the TV series and movies competing head-to-head in several categories. With the current “Golden Age of Television” attracting AAA Hollywood talent and showing off big production values that put many blockbuster feature films to shame, this is actually a pretty good move. There are still medium-specific categories, but now people can actually pick whether Grant Gustin’s Flash or Felicity Jones’ Jyn Erso are the better heroes.
And speaking of choices, here is the full list of nominees, which is led by the incredible Get Out with its six nominations:
- Movie of the Year
Beauty and the Beast
Get Out
Logan
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
The Edge of Seventeen
- Show of the Year
Atlanta
Game of Thrones
Insecure
Pretty Little Liars
Stranger Things
This Is Us
- Best Kiss
Ashton Sanders & Jharrel Jerome — Moonlight
Emma Stone & Ryan Gosling — La La Land
Emma Watson & Dan Stevens — Beauty and the Beast
Taraji P. Henson & Terrence Howard — Empire
Zac Efron & Anna Kendrick — Mike & Dave Need Wedding Dates
- Best Villain
Allison Williams — Get Out
Demogorgon — Stranger Things
Jared Leto — Suicide Squad
Jeffrey Dean Morgan — The Walking Dead
Wes Bentley — American Horror Story: Roanoke
- Best Host
Ellen DeGeneres — The Ellen DeGeneres Show
John Oliver — Last Week Tonight
RuPaul — RuPaul’s Drag Race
Samantha Bee — Full Frontal With Samantha Bee
Trevor Noah — The Daily Show
- Best Documentary
13th
I Am Not Your Negro
OJ: Made in America
This Is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous
TIME: The Kalief Browder Story
- Best Reality Competition
America’s Got Talent
MasterChef Junior
RuPaul’s Drag Race
The Bachelor
The Voice
- Best Actor in a Movie
Daniel Kaluuya — Get Out
Emma Watson — Beauty and the Beast
Hailee Steinfeld — The Edge of Seventeen
Hugh Jackman — Logan
James McAvoy — Split
Taraji P. Henson — Hidden Figures
- Best Actor in a Show
Donald Glover — Atlanta
Emilia Clarke — Game of Thrones
Gina Rodriguez — Jane The Virgin
Jeffrey Dean Morgan — The Walking Dead
Mandy Moore — This Is Us
Millie Bobby Brown — Stranger Things
- Best Comedic Performance
Adam DeVine — Workaholics
Ilana Glazer & Abbi Jacobson — Broad City
Lil Rel Howery — Get Out
Seth MacFarlane — Family Guy
Will Arnett — The LEGO Batman Movie
- Best Hero
Felicity Jones — Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
Grant Gustin — The Flash
Mike Colter — Luke Cage
Millie Bobby Brown — Stranger Things
Stephen Amell — Arrow
Taraji P. Henson — Hidden Figures
- Tearjerker
Game of Thrones — Hodor’s death
Grey’s Anatomy — Meredith tells her children about Derek’s death
Me Before You — Will tells Louisa he can’t stay with her
Moonlight — Paula tells Chiron that she loves him
This Is Us — Jack and Randall at karate
- Next Generation
Chrissy Metz
Daniel Kaluuya
Issa Rae
Riz Ahmed
Yara Shahidi
- Best Duo
Adam Levine & Blake Shelton — The Voice
Daniel Kauuya & Lil Rel Howery — Get Out
Brian Tyree Henry & Lakeith Stanfield — Atlanta
Hugh Jackman & Dafne Keen — Logan
Josh Gad & Luke Evans — Beauty and the Beast
Martha Stewart & Snoop Dogg — Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party
- Best American Story
Blackish
Fresh Off The Boat
Jane The Virgin
Moonlight
Transparent
- Best Fight Against the System
Get Out
Hidden Figures
Loving
Luke Cage
Mr. Robot
The newly dubbed annual MTV Movie and TV Awards for 2017 will air on 7 May, in a show hosted by funnyman Adam DeVine. The categories are not voted on by industry pundits, but rather by the US public, with voting having opened last night.
Last Updated: April 7, 2017
Original Heretic
April 7, 2017 at 08:48
Awesome, this is an awesome thing to do.
I only have ONE issue with what I’ve read here above:
How, please someone explain to me how it is possible that Jared Leto is up for Best Villain?!?!?
Alien Emperor Trevor
April 7, 2017 at 08:56
By “ruining the movie”?
Original Heretic
April 7, 2017 at 08:59
If he was the one to do that, then that’d be a good reason.
But the blame for that cannot lie solely on his shoulders. Not even close.
Alien Emperor Trevor
April 7, 2017 at 09:11
Have you met comic book fans? 😀
Original Heretic
April 7, 2017 at 09:14
I am one of those!
For the Emperor!
April 7, 2017 at 11:11
Jared Leto was hardly in the movie…what the heck…
Hargrim
April 7, 2017 at 09:41
Best Actor in a Show
Emilia Clarke — Game of Thrones
https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/378800000697945639/a7eeae038851851a2b0507cca1917b04.jpeg
Lu
April 7, 2017 at 10:02
I agree. Peter Dinklage, Iwan Rheon and even Lena Headey are far superior.
Hargrim
April 7, 2017 at 10:42
Agreed, also Maisie Williams, Alfie Allen, Rory McCann, Jonathan Pryce . . .
Lu
April 7, 2017 at 10:50
The list goes on and on. Was just naming a few from the top of my head, but I can’t believe I missed Alfie Allen. Going from cocky bastard to broken human wreck deserves recognition.
For the Emperor!
April 7, 2017 at 11:27
“into one gender neutral category” – I approve! If we are striving towards equality, this is a great step in the right direction.
However I need to add some prophetic words: The first time that the nominations are, whether on merit or not, not “representative” enough, the SJW brigade will be up in arms.