Yahoo just published a list compiled by its movie staff of the 100 movies you must see before you die.
ONLY ONE IS DIRECTED BY A WOMAN- Fast Times at Ridgemont High by Amy Heckerling.
Here’s the description of how they came up with the list:
Many movies are good, some are great, but only a select few can be called truly “essential.” After heated discussions, long negotiations, and a shouting match or two, the staff at Yahoo! Movies has put together this list of the 100 films you must see before you die. To choose the titles for the list, we considered factors like historical importance and cultural impact. But we also selected films that we believe are the most thrilling, most dramatic, scariest, and funniest movies of all time. Some of these films you’ve seen, and some you may not have heard of, but we believe that each one is a timeless classic that you absolutely have to see.
Looking at the list only 11 are women centric (there are a couple of other that a romantic comedies)
Alien, All About Eve, In the Mood for Love, The Lady Eve, Raise the Red Lantern, Silence of the Lambs, Snow White, The Sound of Music, Sunset Blvd, The Wizard of Oz, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.
I am not impressed. How can there only be one woman director included?
Maybe we need to do our own list of 100 women’s films you need to see before you die.
100 Movies to See Before You Die (Yahoo)
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Just ONE MOVIE directed by a woman?!?!?! Wow….
HOLY SHIT!!! That is unacceptable.
Melissa, I love your website. This is becoming one of my frequent stops, as I am always interested in films written and directed by women. We need our stories told too (or hell, any story told from a woman’s perspective). I’m in a nontraditional occupation (journeyman electrician), so I know it’s gotta be an uphill battle for the women in film.
I’m in the process of recreating my blog, and will be including a third column on women in film (and women in music) to promote the hell out of women telling our stories!! I’ve gotten some of my best recommendations on films and music from blogs, so I want to do my part to share.
I saw Frozen River this weekend because I read about it here first. I live in central Illinois, so it probably goes without saying that I don’t get the opportunity to see a whole hell of a lot on the big screen. But I buy a shitload of DVDs. (and there’s an independent theatre that just opened in Peoria that will feature independent and foreign films, and that will be worth making the drive! I go to St. Louis a lot, too. Sure wish more films opened in St. Louis!)
Keep up the good work. Frozen River was excellent. Hard to watch, but excellent. (I don’t think I’ve seen a film that was that hard to watch since Everybody’s Fine. With that one, my father and I sat on the couch, sinking into the cushions and getting lumps in our throats the size of cantaloupes, both of us determined not to cry…..this went pretty much the same, as my dad was visiting this past weekend.)
This weekend? Bottle Shock.
I’ll be thinking about that 100 films directed by women list.
Well, I’m not surprised there’s only one female director on the list. For decades there weren’t any working at all. Even now in 2009 female directors only make up a small percentage of members in the DGA (I think I saw something that said 5-10%). It’s pathetic. The list of women centric films is way too low as usual.
So ye old sexist Top 100 List raises its ugly head again eh? No great surprises – it’s just one more example in a long history of disproportionate back-slapping. I am however, with-jaw-on-floor, quite disturbed that this edition has been pulled together by Yahoo. I’d hoped that the still relatively new wave of online giants would bring with them a more progressive approach. How could THEY have missed all the amazing women-directed films out there so worthy of a place in a top 100 list? We all know (well… the enlightened ‘we’ reading Melissa’s blog anyway!) there are loads of brilliant lady-made indie flicks that could and should be included, but to completely miss the really big hitters… LOST IN TRANSLATION anyone? Unforgivable. Having just closed the very successful 5th edition of our Birds Eye View Film Fest, at which FROZEN RIVER was an absolute sell-out, I am now scratching my head once more at the lack of recognition for female talent the industry just can’t seem to shake. Hmmm. Thank God for Women & Hollywood and Melissa Silverstein! ;)
Em Arnold, Festival Manager, Birds Eye View http://www.birds-eye-view.co.uk
Great post. I will share this with my friends!
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I don’t think it’s sexist at all, and I am a woman myself. I don’t think these people sat around all day saying “Wait! That film was directed by a woman, we CAN’T pick that!” They chose what they liked, and if they haven’t seen any good films directed by women, then oh well. I find it annoying when people find every little thing sexist. I myself haven’t even seen a movie directed by a woman, ever. I’m not trying to be rude, but I don’t think it’s sexist. That’s just my opinion.
“I myself haven’t even seen a movie directed by a woman, ever.” That’s kind of the point. Sexism is so ingrained it’s not always conscious. They can create a list of 100 great films and not even have to *think* about including women directors. What does that say?
I hear what you are saying, and it seems that the folks at Yahoo! didn’t look to deeply for their list. that being said, isn’t it just as sexist to make up a list entirely of women? the goal should be to be EQUAL. Not more, not less. Just saying.
Isn’t picking a movie because of the gender of the director a sexist act? Does the gender of the director somehow alter the quality of the movie? The list is about the tastes of the person making the list, nothing more. Sexism is found in the movie, not by who made it.
I would like to see a list of the most sexist movies ever made. (sexist against one gender or the other for that matter).
Here is a start
The Last Boy Scout (women are very very badly depicted, the most sexist movie I’ve ever seen)
Sweet Home Alabama -passive sexism
Indecent Proposal – active sexism
True Lies (I don’t think its that bad, but my sister thinks its the most sexist movie ever made)
Zombieland (the women in this movie are very horrible people)
Thelma and Louise (every man is depicted in a very negative way)
I’m a undergraduate now , and which movier do you like to recommend to us in this age .