Congrats to Kathryn Bigelow!

From The Guardian:

in a low-key ceremony in Los Angeles, Kathryn Bigelow became the first-ever female winner of the Directors' Guild of America (DGA) award for best direction in a feature film.

This is an important moment: in the DGA's 62-year-existence no female director has ever won this award. Congratulations to Bigelow aside, this win now points her firmly in the direction of an Academy award: almost every DGA win in this category results in the same achievement at the Oscars.

This could mean, since the Oscars usually follow suit with the results of the DGA awards, that Kathryn Bigelow might be the first female director to win an Academy Award for best picture in the 82 year history of the Oscars. I have no delusions here, and realize that Avatar could easily win best picture based on Guild voting from the past. Although, since I've only seen the first tense twenty minutes of Bigelow's The Hurt Locker, I cannot accurately assess whether I believe this film is more worthy of the award than Avatar. If the award was for technological innovation and spectacular achievement, I doubt the award for best picture could go anywhere else but to Cameron's film. But, this does not mean that the Academy will select the same film/director combo for the Best Picture/Best Director awards, as evidenced numerous times over the history of the ceremony.

Aside from the fact that it would be wonderful to see Bigelow accept this award, I really don't want to hear Cameron's Navi version of "I'm the king of the world!" Actually, as opposed to being in the native language of the people of pandora, his acceptance speech would probably start with something along the lines of "I've obtained the unobtainium!" Gag.

Another interesting dynamic at play here is that Bigelow is Cameron's ex-wife, making this also the first time that a husband/wife pair, albeit a former husband/wife pair, were nominated in the same category and up for the same award. The DGA Awards, in my opinion, is far more valid and reputable ceremony than the Oscars, but is not nearly as publicized or brandished as the Oscars. I just really want to see a woman win, but last year was the year for the underdog. I have my doubts as to whether the little guy (or, in this case, little lady) could possibly trump the big shot.